Forms: α. 3–6 soupe, 4–5 sope, 4–6 sowpe, (3, 6 Sc. supe, 4 soupi, sopi, souppe, sowpy, sowppe, 5 soope, sopye, 6 Sc. soup, sowp). β. 5–7 suppe, (5 suppon, 6 soppe), 6– sup. [a. OF. soper, super, (also mod.F.) souper = Pr. sopar, of obscure origin.]
1. intr. To eat one’s supper; to take supper.
α. c. 1290. Beket, 697, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 126. Heo setten bord and spradden cloth, and bi-gonne to soupe [other vers. sopi] faste.
c. 1300. Havelok, 1765–6. He … dide greyþe a super riche,… Þat he mithe supe swiþe wel. Also he seten, and sholde soupe, So comes a ladde in a loupe.
13[?]. Sir Beues (A.), 3088. Þat ilche kniȝt, Þat sopede wiþ þe ȝerstene niȝt.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 359. Whan thei hadden souped there, Thei schopen hem to gon to reste.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. vi. 126. When they had souped at her leyser kyng Arthur was ledde vnto a chamber.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxix. 45. How glaid that ever I dyne or sowp.
1579[?]. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xlviii. 67. My fortun wes to be Ludgit … with this same companie; Soupit togither; in ane chalmer lay.
β. 14[?]. Chaucer’s Frankl. T., 489 (Cambr. MS.). It is al redy thow ȝe wele rygh now. Go we thanne suppe [v.r. soupe].
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 190. When he had suppid, þer lefte right noght ouer night vnto in þe mornyng.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 484/2. Suppon, ceno.
1538. Starkey, England (1878), 26. Hyt ys late and tyme to suppe.
1592. Arden of Feversham, IV. iii. 13. If this weather would last … a man should neuer dyne nor sup without candle light.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, viii. 173. We commonly sup about six houres after we haue dined.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 786. He never supt in solemn State.
1711. Swift, Lett. (1767), III. 221. I … supped with lord treasurer,… I staid till two;… I must sup with him, and he keeps cursed hours.
1777. H. Walpole, Lett. to H.S. Conway, 10 July. I kept him to sup, sleep … and breakfast here this morning.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. ix. 286. The officers of the Light Horse … established a club among themselves, supping once a-week at each other’s houses in rotation.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 27 July, 8/1. The Prince and Princess of Wales supped on the Lyceum stage with Mr. Irving and Miss Terry.
b. Const. on, upon, off († of, with) the food.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1025. He sowppes … with seuene knaue childre, Choppid in a chargour.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 204. Of grene herbis rycht oft [he] did soupe and dyne.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. iii. 159. I am faine to dine and sup with water and bran.
1702. Yalden, Fables, v. 23. He din’d and supp’d upon the best.
1829. Scott, Rob Roy, Introd. ad init. They … took a wedder from the fold, killed it, and supped off the carcass.
1890. Doyle, White Company, xxvii. They supped on good fare, and slept between lavender-scented sheets.
c. trans. To make a supper of; also with cognate object. rare.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1298. To sowpe withe þat soueraygne ffulle selcouthe metez.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xi. After having supped the supper of the damned.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., I. 220. Before the eyes of men, awake at last, Who put away the meats they used to sup.
2. fig. (or in fig. context) and allusively.
† To sup with our Saviour, with Jesus Christ, to sup in heaven or hell (after Rev. ii. 20): said of persons who have died or are about to die. Cf. SUPPER sb.1 1 b.
In quot. 1605 with is to be construed with supt (cf. quot. 1603 in 1 b), but in modern echoes of the passage of is often substituted, and construed with full.
[1382. Wyclif, Rev. iii. 20. If ony man shal here my voys, and opene the ȝat, I shal entre to him, and soupe with him.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 216. I wol entre in-to hym by my grace, and soupe with hym by the goode werkes þat he shal doon, whiche werkes been the foode of god.]
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3805. We salle … Souppe with oure Saueoure solemply in heuene.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 170. My faith is such, that my saule sall sowp with my Saviour this nycht.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. i. 214. You shall sup with Iesu Christ to night. Ibid. (1605), Macb., V. v. 13. I haue supt full with horrors. Ibid. (1607), Cor., IV. ii. 50. Angers my Meate: I suppe vpon my selfe.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. xxi. 137. Dining on Christ in the Sacrament, expecting no other then to sup with him in heaven.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 426. The Sun … at Even Sups with the Ocean.
1812. Shelley, Devil’s Walk, x. They sup on the groans of the dying and dead.
1830. Scott, Demonol., vii. 211. The reader may sup full on such wild horrors in the Causes Célèbres.
1873. Burton, Hist. Scot., VI. lxxiii. 352. People had supped full of horrors.
3. trans. a. Falconry and Venery. To give the last feed of the day to (a hawk, horse or hound). Also with up.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 133. Let hir flee but once, and suppe hir vp vpon the pray. Ibid., 215. At euening conuey it [sc. a casting] into hir gorge, after you haue supt hir. Ibid., 310. Supping hir euery night with a ratte or a mouse.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., Ind. i. 28. Huntsman I charge thee, tender wel my hounds…. But sup them well, and looke vnto them all.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 228. Is it fit … To feede a horse with sand? To sup a Falcon with straw?
1798. Trans. Soc. Arts, XVI. 152. At the time of supping the horses up, after they are bedded, give every horse a small armful.
1805. James, Milit. Dict. (ed. 2), To sup up, a term used in the British cavalry, to signify the last duty that is performed…, when the horses are allowed to rest for the night.
1810–. in Eng. Dial. Dict.
† b. Of food: To furnish a supper for. Obs. rare.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 698. If a haue no more mans blood in’s belly, then will sup a Flea.
1653. Walton, Angler, I. iv. Having caught more fish than will sup myself and my friend.
c. To give a supper to, entertain at supper.
1619. in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1848), II. 174. This day, I think, the Lorraine ambassador is supped.
1865. Sala, in Reader, No. 117. 337/1. They will breakfast you, they will sup you.
1907. Daily Chron., 20 July, 3/2. They lunched her at the Carlton, dined her at the Trocadero, supped her at Prince’s.
