Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A name given to certain old glass beakers, tankards, etc., from the belief that poison poured into them would break them and thus be detected.
- noun In botany, the remnants of the volva or veil which persist in cup-like form at the base of the stem of many of the poisonous mushrooms.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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He was playing a game of chess with the jailer, when the Emperor's, or, rather, Chong Mong-ju's, messenger arrived with the poison-cup.
Chapter 15 2010
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"Yet I would rather not live out my years in fear of your poison-cup, or your henchmen at my back."
Conan The Warlord Carpenter, Leonard 1988
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"Yet I would rather not live out my years in fear of your poison-cup, or your henchmen at my back."
Conan The Warlord Carpenter, Leonard 1988
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Later, when she is compelling Tristan to drink the poison-cup, the sailors break out into
Wagner Runciman, John F 1913
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The Pope's butler had been bribed and exchanged the poison-cup intended for the Pope's victim for the Pope's cup, and the Pope took his own medicine.
Luther Examined and Reexamined A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation 1904
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He was playing a game of chess with the jailer, when the Emperor's, or, rather, Chong Mong-ju's, messenger arrived with the poison-cup.
The Jacket (Star-Rover) Jack London 1896
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"I will never allow the Naya to fall beneath the blade or poison-cup of the assassin," Omar said decisively.
The Great White Queen A Tale of Treasure and Treason William Le Queux 1895
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Later, when she is compelling Tristan to drink the poison-cup, the sailors break out into "Yo-heave-ho!" and he says,
Wagner John F. Runciman 1891
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A brave though cruel nation drank delirium from the poison-cup of these vile medicine-men, whose
Renaissance in Italy, Volumes 1 and 2 The Catholic Reaction John Addington Symonds 1866
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It was not Socratês, but Theram'enes, one of the thirty tyrants, who in quaffing the poison-cup, said smiling,
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook Ebenezer Cobham Brewer 1853
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