grace cup

9.9

A cup passed around at the end of a meal for the final toast

noun

: copa de gracia

After the banquet, the host offered the grace cup to each guest in turn.

Examples

They filled the grace cup for the traditional final toast after dinner.
Please pass the grace cup around the table.
Historically, the grace cup was shared at the end of grand feasts to promote fellowship.
At the end of dinner, we raised the grace cup together.
After the banquet, the host offered the grace cup to each guest in turn.
They filled the grace cup for the traditional final toast after dinner.
Historically, the grace cup was shared at the end of grand feasts to promote fellowship.

Synonyms

chalice

vsgrace cup

38 8.4

A large decorated cup with a stem used for drinking wine in church

is passed around at meal end for a communal prayerful toast not sacramental

loving cup

vsgrace cup

1 7.9

A large cup with two handles given as a trophy at ceremonies

is used specifically at meal end for a final toast with prayer

stirrup cup

vsgrace cup

Archaic

9.9

A quick drink given to a person on a horse just before they leave

is shared at meal end for a final prayerful toast not a send-off drink

Surface Forms

grace cup singular

grace cups plural

Morphology

grace + cup

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'grace' (a short thanksgiving prayer at a meal) with 'cup' (a drinking vessel): a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it is the cup used for the grace/toast passed around after a meal. This follows a common English noun–noun compositional pattern denoting purpose or association, so the phrase is immediately comprehensible to learners familiar with the constituent senses.

Etymology

Grace cup comes from a table tradition: at the end of a meal people would fill one cup and say a short grace, a prayer of thanks, then pass the cup so everyone drank from it. So today a grace cup means the cup shared for the final toast or thanks.