Forms: α. 1 supan, 4–5 supe, 4–6 sowp(e, 4–7 soup(e, (4 soupen, 5 sowpon(e, 6 sope, 6–7 soope, 7–8, 9 (dial.) soop, 9 dial. soup, zoop). β. 1 Northumb. suppa, 4–7 suppe, (6 souppe, 6 soppe, 8 supp), 5– sup. Pa. t. strong 1 seap (sæp), 4 sop, 4–5 soop; weak 1 Northumb. -supede, 4 soupede, -ide, sowpide, 6 suppit, supt(e, 6– supped. Pa. pple. strong 4 soopen, soupen, 4–5 sopen, -un; weak 4 sowpyd, 5 suppyd, 6 suppit, supte, 7 supt, soopt, soop’d, 6– supped. [Three types of formation on the Teutonic root sūp- (cf. SOP sb.1, v.1, SOPE, SOWP sb.1) are represented here: (1) OE. súpan str. vb., pa. t. séap (*supon), pa. pple. *sopen = MLG. sûpen, MDu. zûpen (Du. zuipen), OHG. sûfan (MHG. sûfen, G. saufen, in dial. strong and weak), ON. súpa; (2) OE. *suppan, once in Northumb. pres. ind. pl. suppas, corresp. to OHG. suphjan, supphan, suffan (MHG., G. dial. supfen); (3) OE. *sūpian, once in Northumb. weak pa. t. pl. ʓesupedon.
The forms with pp in ME. appear first in northern texts.]
1. trans. To take (liquid) into the mouth in small quantities (as opposed to a draught); † also with in. Now chiefly Sc. and north. dial.; often spec. to take (liquid food) with a spoon.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, iii. 162. He sæp [v.r. seap] of ðæm calice eac swylce blod.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 184. Ʒe þeah þu mid cuclere þær supe. Ibid., 336. Ʒif he þæt broð þonne ær sypð.
a. 1327. Poem times Edw. II., 238, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 334. The best he piketh up himself,… And ȝeveth the gode man soupe the lene broth.
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 190. W[oman] mylk and wortis soupith.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiv. 62. Þai ete bot flesch withouten breed and soupez þe broo.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. v. 219. Thou woldest not for alle the brothe that euer thou soupest ones loke hym in the face.
1530. Palsgr., 726/2. I have herde saye that he was dede, but he wyll sowpe as hoote potage as you.
1590. Barrough, Meth. Phisick, III. iii. (1639), 105. It is also good for them to soupe the juice of Quinces.
1640. Brome, Sparagus Gard., II. iii. A Phesants egge soopt with a Peacocks feather.
1643. Trapp, Comm. Gen. xxv. 33. As Gideons souldiers, to soop their handful, not to swill their belly-full.
1721. Bailey, To Sip, to soop a little.
β. 13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 108. Þyse ilk renkez … Schul neuer sitte in my sale my soper to fele, Ne suppe on sope of my seve.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 3805. Þis solayne sope [= SOPE sb.] if I sup.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 69, in Babees Bk. Ne suppe not with grete sowndynge Noþer potage ne oþer þynge.
1587. Turberv., Trag. Tales (1837), 143. Who … The poyson supt, and tooke it patientlie.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 193. Which of all these … Could get one bit to eat, or drop suppe?
a. 1682. F. Sempill, Blythesome Wedding, 65. And sing’d sheep-heads, and a haggize, And scadlips to sup till ye’re fow.
1692. Tryon, Good House-wife, i. 5 You must take nourishing Meats and Drinks, sup good Sack, Old Malago, Tent, or the like.
1787[?]. Burns, Gudeen to you, Kimmer, ii. Kate sits i’ the neuk, Suppin’ hen-broo.
1818. Miss Ferrier, Marriage, xxvii. Girls that sup their porridge will always cut a good figure.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., xiii. After dinner, it was with difficulty I could get her to sup a little drop of wine-and-water, and dip a toast in it.
1872. Hartley, Yorksh. Ditties, Ser. II. 107. Sellin’ drink has made mony a chap rich, an suppin it has made thaasands poor.
1889. Barrie, Window in Thrums, 114. He began to sup his porridge.
b. To drink up or off, swallow, esp. by mouthfuls or spoonfuls. † Also with out, in.
1375. Creation, 473, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 130. Me þoȝte Kaym tok Abellis blod And sop it op as he were wod.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 463. A white duffe … suppid of all þat was in þe chales with hur neb.
c. 1450. Mankind, 765, in Macro Plays, 28. My prepotent father, when ȝe sowpe, sowpe owt yowur messe.
a. 1529. Skelton, E. Rumming, 380. Ales founde therin no thornes, But supped it [sc. ale] vp at ones.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. v. 22. Wo vnto them, yt are connynge men to suppe out wyne.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 28/1. We must first let him suppe in a soft dressed egge.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 142. Then will he sup off a cup of cold water as big as a milke-bowle.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, v. 84. A couple of potched Egges,… supped off warme, eating therewithall a little bread and butter.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 53. Sup it up in the morning fasting.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Sup up, to drink off a glass of liquor.
1870. Mrs. Julie P. Smith, Widow Goldsmith’s Dau., iii. The contents dealt out into the cracked bowl and tin cup, were immediately distributed; they eagerly supped it up and crept back to bed.
1885. ‘Ouida,’ Rainy June, 133. To rattle down the Bois in a milord, and sup off a matelote by the lake with your Romeo!
2. intr. To take a sip or sips: to take drink by mouthfuls or spoonfuls; † formerly with partitive of. Now chiefly Sc. and north. dial.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxvii. 34. Cum gustasset, mið ðy ʓebiriʓde vel ʓeseap.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 50. Sup swa ðu hatost mæʓe.
13[?]. Coer de L., 3085. Lord, we have pork sought; Etes, and soupes off the browys swote.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 150. Avaunt ke il hume [gloss soupe].
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 96. In fastyng-dayes to frete ar ful tyme were And þanne to sitten and soupen til slepe hem assaille.
c. 1475. Babees Bk., 144. Whenne your potage to yow shalle be brouhte, Take yow sponys, and soupe by no way.
c. 1500. Young Childr. Bk., 127, in Babees Bk. When þou sopys, make no noyse With thi mouth As do boys.
1542. Brinklow, Lament. (1874), 89. We soppe of the broth in which the deuell was soden.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 22. A bouzing can, Of which he supt so oft, that on his seat His dronken corse he scarse vpholden can.
1616. B. Jonson, Forest, ix. 7. Might I of love’s nectar sup.
1701. Grew, Cosm. Sacra, I. v. § 6. 26. Nor therefore could we Supp, or Swallow, without it [sc. the tongue].
transf. 13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 151. Þe sayl sweyed on þe see, þenne suppe bihoued Þe coge of þe colde water.
† 3. transf. and fig. a. trans. Chiefly with up: To swallow up, consume, absorb. Obs.
Frequent as a rendering of L. absorbere in biblical versions.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., lviii. 447. Forðonðe he … nis nauðer, ne hat, ne ceald, ðeah ic hine supe, ic hine wille eft utaspiwan of minum muðe.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), lxviii. 15. Ne me se seað supe mid muðe.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter lxviii. 19. Drown me not þe storme of watire: ne supe me þe grounde.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxviii. 7. Thei ben sopen awei of wyn, thei erreden in drunkenesse. Ibid., 1 Cor. xv. 54. Deeth is sopun vp in victorie. Ibid., Rev. xii. 16. The erthe openyde his mouth, and soupide [v.r. sop vp, soop vp] the flood.
c. 1400. Psalter (MS. Bodl. 554), iii. 5, marg. As sopun up for sorewe.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 713/1. As for al other sinnes whatsoeuer thei be, faith saith he … suppeth them al vp in a moment.
1566. Drant, Wail. Hierim., K iv. The battred wall, prostrate dyd fall,… The earthe supte up the gorgious gates.
1598. Bastard, Chrestol., I. xl. 25. Foure lines, which hold me tug an hower or twaine He sups up with a breath and takes no paine.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. III. 319. [A lake] whose waters gush so fast out of the ground, that they will overtake a swift horseman, and by and by with as incredible celerity [are] supped vp.
1652. N. Culverwel, Lt. Nature, I. xvii. (1661), 158. A Ship ready to be split upon a rock, or to be soup’d up of a Wave.
† b. Of material objects: To take in (water, air). Also sup out in the opposite sense. Obs.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. vi. 64. The jonit barge, Sa full of riftis, and with lekkis perbraik, Scho suppit huge wattir of the laik.
1566. Drant, Horace, Sat., I. iv. B viij. As bellowes sup and beltch out wyndes, to make the yron softe.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., VII. (1593), 153. And how Charybdis … Now sowpeth in, now sowpeth out the sea incessantly.
1644. Nye, Gunnery, II. (1670), 33. Such a peece [of ordnance] … which suppeth and reteineth continually more and more of that wind, which should serve to expell the bullet.
† c. To sup up: (a) to take in, ‘swallow’ (a story); (b) to utter indistinctly, also to retract (one’s words). Obs.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., etc. 518/1. We see that euery man is but too light of credit to sup vp that that shalbee spoken, if there be once any euill report of the Ministers of Gods worde.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 58 b. We must speak freelie without supping vp our wordes, and bringing them but half forth.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxii. § 14. When … they haue put vs in hope of agreement, wherefore sup they vp their wordes againe?
1611. Cotgr., Humer le parole, foolishly to sup, or sucke vp, his owne words; to speake abruptly, or vndistinctly.
† d. absol. or intr. of waters, etc. Obs.
In 1382 and 1611 a literalism of translation.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xlii. 14. I shal scateren, and soupen awei togidere.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. vi. 128. The large fludis suppis thrise in ane swelth, And wther quhilis spowtis in the air agane.
1611. Bible, Hab. i. 9. Their faces shall sup vp as the East winde, and they shall gather the captiuitie as the sand.
4. fig. To have experience of; to taste; esp. to sup sorrow: cf. L. haurire dolorem (Cicero).
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xvi. 28. Qui non gustabunt mortem, ða ðe ne suppas deað. Ibid., Mark, Introd. 4/3. Gustaturos quosdam mortem, hia þet ʓebiriʓdon vel ʓesupedon weron sume oðer þone deað.
c. 1395. Plowman’s Tale, 1096. Holy churche shuld stand full cold, Hir servaunts sitte and soupe sorowe.
1560. A. L., trans. Calvin’s Foure Serm. Songe Ezech., i. I do nothing but sup up the drink of sorrow.
1599. Peele, Sir Clyom., Wks. 1839, III. 123. To sup his dire destruction there for wretched love of me.
1731–8. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 57. I’ll make you one Day sup Sorrow for this.
1839. W. Carleton, Fardorougha, xvi. You’d make him sup sorrow for his harshness.
1901. C. G. Harper, Gt. North Road, II. 294. A ferocious folk, those old Scots, and petty delinquents supped sorrow at their hands with a big spoon.
