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• sup
  sup

  interjection

  wassup.
• sup-
  sup-

  variant of sub- before p:
• sup.
  sup.

  abbreviation

  superior.

sup

¹ American  

[suhp] / sʌp /

Or 'sup

interjection

Slang.

1. wassup.

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sup ² American  

[suhp] / sʌp /

verb (used without object)

supped, supping

1. to eat the evening meal; have supper.

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verb (used with object)

supped, supping

1. to provide with or entertain at supper.

sup ³ American  

[suhp] / sʌp /

verb (used with object)

supped, supping

1. to take (liquid food, or any liquid) into the mouth in small quantities, as from a spoon or cup; sip.

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verb (used without object)

supped, supping

1. to take liquid into the mouth in small quantities, as by spoonfuls or sips.

noun

1. a mouthful or small portion of drink or liquid food; sip.

sup ⁴ American  

[soop] / sup /

noun

Mathematics.

1. supremum. See least upper bound.

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sup- ⁵ American  

1. variant of sub- before p:

   suppose.

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sup. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. superior.

2. superlative.

3. supine.

4. supplement.

5. supplementary.

6. supply.

7. supra.

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sup ¹ British  

/ sʌp /

verb

1. to partake of (liquid) by swallowing a little at a time

2. dialect to drink

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noun

1. a sip

sup. ² British  

abbreviation

1. above

2. superior

3. grammar superlative

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sup ³ British  

/ sʌp /

verb

1. archaic (intr) to have supper

2. obsolete (tr) to provide with supper

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Etymology

Origin of sup¹

First recorded in 1985–90; by shortening

Origin of sup²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English s(o)upen, soupe, from Old French souper “to take supper,” from Germanic; compare Old English sūpan “to swallow, taste, sip”; see sup ³

Origin of sup³

First recorded before 900; Middle English s(o)uppen, soup(p)e, Old English sūpan; cognate with German saufen “to drink”; cf. sip, sop, soup, sup ²

Origin of sup⁴

First recorded in 1940–45; by shortening

Explanation

To sup is to eat slowly, by spoonfuls. When you eat soup, you probably sup it. You can really only sup soft foods and liquids, like oatmeal and milkshakes and miso soup. A sick person taking gingerly spoons of Jello into his mouth can be said to sup, and so can a hesitant baby eating tiny bites of pureed carrots. Sup essentially means "sip," and its root is the Old English sūpan, "to sip or swallow."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sup sup- sup. supped supping

Jimmy Adams, who oversees the pub, says the idea behind the venue was to create a place where people could meet regardless of whether they wanted to sup upon alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks.

From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2024

Now, there is only three years to go until the pub rises again and thirsty regulars can sup a beer — or two.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2024

How can I best sup port my girlfriend?

From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2021

Some morsels are just too delicious for journalists and pundits not to sup on.

From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2018

"Her page. She invites you to sup with her again. There's to be a haunch of venison, she says, a brace of stuffed geese sauced with mulberries, and—" "—her daughter," Tyrion finished sourly.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

“And what college is sup- posed to do is to allow you to live more fully in your time.”

From MSNBC ● Mar. 21, 2015

In Barn Dance, farm wives of 1850 prepare a picnic sup- per, children play and bicker, bashful hayseeds choose partners.

From Time Magazine Archive

I sup- posed that you, being acquainted with the history of your country, felt under a certain obligation to Thomas Paine for the splendid services rendered by him in the darkest days of the Revolution.

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 5 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Discussions by Robert Green Ingersoll

It was not till the third day that I re- turned to Tours; and the distance, traversed for the most part after dark, was even greater than I had sup- posed.

From A Little Tour in France by Henry James

No one sup- posed that the process would be so sudden and violent.

From New Forces in Old China An Inevitable Awakening by Arthur Judson Brown

Manso, ubi sup., has taken the same view of the passage.470.Cic. de Leg. and de Rep. ubi sup.

From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller

For this reason Plutarch ubi sup. mentions one medimnus.952.See the Scholia quoted in note l.

From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller

I, § 2.102.There was a hero named Azorus, Hesychius in Ἄζωρος.103.Hemsterhuis incorrectly considers them as identical, ubi sup. p. 116.104.Athen.

From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller

Eurip. ubi sup. where ἐπιπορπὶς appears to be the tongue of the clasp.1253.Περόναι, or clasps, were also used in the Ionic female dress, in order to close the slit-up sleeve.

From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 2 of 2 by Karl Otfried Müller

P. 5-10 cm. globose then plane, subumb. glabrous then breaking up into granules; g. free; s. 4-5 cm. tapering to thickened base, fibrillose, ring sup. thin, disappearing; sp. subg. 6-7.

From European Fungus Flora: Agaricaceae by George Massee

Mr McCann added that he and his wife had "supped with the Devil" by working with the Sun in 2011, in order to have the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance reviewed - illustrating the newspaper's influence.

From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2025

To the north at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, the campus’ Hillel organization recently welcomed several Ukrainian students to a Shabbat dinner, where they supped on matzo ball soup and deli sandwiches.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 20, 2022

I have drunk the legendary Vietnamese coffee and supped the sulphurous vegetable broth on the collapsing sofas.

From The Verge ● Mar. 31, 2018

However, she added: “There are clearly questions to be answered about the various relationships that developed afterwards and whether the UK supped with a sufficiently long spoon.”

From The Guardian ● May 31, 2016

A captive she might be, but she was still a Greyjoy of Pyke, and it pleased Stannis Baratheon to feed her scraps from his own table, where he supped with his captains and commanders.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

In overnight towns, we made a habit of supping at churches, which offered hospitality and dinners of pasta, lasagna, chicken.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Apparently, someone gave him a job fairly soon because within a few chapters Tucci is supping at glamorous restaurants in far-flung locales like Vancouver, Normandy and Reykjavik.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 8, 2021

This was the modern-day equivalent of supping from Mr Bannon’s gilded skull.

From Economist ● Jan. 11, 2018

“What I didn’t realize is that supping with them would actually have a broader impact on how the world sees me as a scientist,” he said.

From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2016

Taryn and I hear things, even if no one means for us to—stories of humans sleeping on stone floors and eating refuse, believing themselves to be resting on feather beds and supping on delicacies.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black