ˈgrace-cup
The cup of liquor passed round after grace is said; the last cup of liquor drunk before retiring, a parting draught. (Cf. grace-drink, grace n. 21 b.)
| 1593 Rites of Durham (Surtees) 68 A great mazer, called the Grace-cup. 1647 Trapp Comm. Mark xiv. 25 That grace-cup (as they call it) after which they might not eat any thing more till the day following. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. ii. 680 A grace-cup to their common Patron's health. c 1718 Prior Ladle 115 The grace-cup serv'd, the cloth away. 1816 Scott Old Mort. iii, Such as..were..obliged to partake of a grace-cup with their captain before their departure. 1828 ― F.M. Perth xxviii, A bowl, called the grace-cup, made of oak, hooped with silver. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge III. 381 As soon as Grace had been said, and the grace-cup had been passed round, the seniors were to retire to their studies. |
| fig. 1679 Dryden Troilus & Cr. Pref., Thus in Mustapha, the Play should naturally have ended with the Death of Zanger, and not have given us the grace Cup after Dinner, of Solyman's Divorce from Roxolana. 1786 Francis the Philanthropist III. 173 The epilogue, or grace-cup, to wash down the meal..had not yet exceeded the vos valete & plaudite. |