assay cup

noun

1. a small wine cup for tasting wine to be offered to another person.

Word History and Origins

Origin of assay cup¹

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

Edward IV. presented to the ambassadors of Charles of Burgundy a costly assay cup of gold, ornamented with pearls and a great sapphire, and, to use the words of an old writer, “in the myddes of the cuppe ys a grete pece of a Vnicornes horne.”

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