Cup Definitions

LDOCE Definition

The following definition is from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Words outside the 2000-word defining vocabulary appear in all capitals.

cup

• a small round container, usu. with a handle, from which liquids are drunk, esp. hot liquids such as tea or coffee
• this container with the liquid in it
• [If you're making a pot of tea I'd love a cup]
• also cupful - the amount held by one CUP
• [Add one cup of flour to half a cup of sugar and mix]
• a small circular object
• [the cup of a flower - see picture at NUT]
• a specially shaped ornamental vessel, usu. made of gold or silver, given as a prize in a competition
• [Which team do you think will win the cup this year?]
• a specially prepared drink of wine or another alcoholic drink
• [CIDER cup; CLARET cup]
• that which comes to a person in life; experience
• [When her child died her cup of sorrow seemed complete]
• (in religious use) CHALICE
• in one's cups when drunk - see also one's cup of TEA
• to form (esp. the hands) into the shape of a cup
• [He cupped his cold hands round the cup of hot chocolate]
• med. to press a glass cup against the skin of (a person) so that the air pressure inside the cup is reduced and the blood inside the body therefore drawn to the surface

NSM-LDOCE Definition

The following definition is from my NSM-LDOCE project. I am writing definitions for the LDOCE 2000-word defining vocabulary, using only words from the NSM list and from the LDOCE defining vocabulary. NSM words appear in all capitals. Words outside the NSM list appear in all lowercase, and these words (make, contain, hot, liquid, drink, use, hand, mouth, etc.) will be defined separately, avoiding circular definitions. I am attempting to define the core meaning of each word, avoiding other meanings that come from analogy, metaphor, conventional appearance, associated objects, secondary uses, etc.

cup

• [noun-only] SMALL THINGS PEOPLE make [to+] contain hot liquid [+s] THAT PEOPLE drink [;] ONE PERSON CAN use ONE hand TO_MOVE ONE_OF THESE NEAR_TO mouth and CAN drink ALL liquid THAT ONE_OF THESE contain [+s]

NSM Definition

The following definition is from "Lexicography and Conceptual Analysis" by Anna Wierzbicka (1985, Karoma Publishers, Ann Arbor). It is longer and more complex than a typical dictionary definition, and it contains several words (make, use, repeatedly, drink, hot, liquid, tea, coffee, put, down, rigid, smooth, easy, wash, etc.) that are outside the NSM list and need to be defined separately, avoiding circular definitions.

cup

• A KIND OF THING THAT PEOPLE MAKE
• IMAGINING THINGS OF THIS KIND PEOPLE WOULD SAY THESE THINGS ABOUT THEM:

• [PURPOSE] they are made for people to use repeatedly for drinking hot liquids from such as tea or coffee
• one person from one thing of this kind
• being able to put them down on something else

• [MATERIAL] they are made of something rigid, smooth and easy to wash
• which liquids can't go into or pass through
• and which doesn't break easily in contact with hot liquid

• [APPEARANCE-top] they are rounded and open at the top
• so that one can drink easily from them by tipping the top part slightly towards the mouth
• without any of the liquid going outside where one doesn't want it to go

• [-bottom] the bottom is the same shape as the sides
• and it is flat so that they are not more difficult to make than they have to be
• so that things of this kind can be put down on something else that is flat

• [-proportions] they cannot be much wider than they are high
• so that the liquid inside doesn't cease to be hot before one can drink it all
• they cannot be much higher than they are wide
• so that they don't overturn easily when one puts them down somewhere

• [SIZE] they have to be big enough to be able to have not less hot liquid in
• than a person would be expected to want to drink of that kind of liquid at one time
• they cannot be too big for people to be able to raise them easily to the mouth full of liquid, with one hand

• IMAGINING THINGS OF THIS KIND PEOPLE COULD ALSO SAY THESE THINGS ABOUT THEM:

• [USE] people drink from them when sitting at a table

• [-sets] they are made and used in groups of things which look the same
• so that people drinking from them can each have one of such things looking the same
• so that they look nice together

• [-saucers] they are made and used together with some other things
• made of the same stuff
• made for putting these things on
• one thing for a person to drink from, on one thing for putting such things on
• so that people can raise the things to drink from to the mouth to drink a little
• and then put them down on those other things
• which can be put down on the table
• those other things are similar to them in some ways so that they look nice together

• those other things are made in such a way that there can be some parts of them all around the bottom of the things that people drink from
• so that if any liquid goes down over the top of the things people drink from
• it will come onto and remain on those other things
• and will not get elsewhere where one doesn't want it to go

• [MATERIAL] things of this kind are made of something thin so that they are nice to look at and to drink from
• and of something that one can't see through
• so that things made of it can have pictures and patterns on them
• making them nice to look at,
• such as china

• [APPEARANCE-sides] the sides are rounded, not flat
• so that all the sides look the same and one can't say where one side ends and another begins
• so that one can easily hold things of this kind around with a hand when they don't have any hot liquid inside

• the sides are not straight but roundish
• so that looked at from the side the opposite sides, or their upper parts, look like rounded lines
• whose middle parts are further away from one another than their tops or bottoms

• [-proportions] the bottom is smaller than the top
• so that if some of the liquid goes down along the outer surface of the thing one is drinking from
• it will come to the middle of the thing it is on
• and will not go outside that thing to where one doesn't want it to go

• [-handle] things of this kind have a thin rounded part which sticks out from one side
• which doesn't get hot
• because it is not in contact with the hot liquid inside
• this part is attached at its top and its bottom to one side
• so that by holding it one can prevent one part of the top from being above the others when one is not drinking
• and so to prevent any of the liquid from getting out over the top and going where one doesn't want it to go

• this part has to be big enough and to stick out far enough for people to be able to raise things of this kind full of liquid for a short time
• holding that part with a thumb and two fingers
• without any parts of the hand touching the sides, which are hot
• it can't be much bigger or stick out much further than necessary for that