suction cup
2
3.3
- noun
- /ˈsʌkʃən kʌp/
:
ventosa
- The suction cup held the shower organizer firmly against the tile wall.
- suction cup that sticks
- suction cup lifters
- suction cup mount
Examples
-
Some robots have suction cups for lifting glass.
Academic text (2007) -
He places the tripod over the sphere, gently pressing the suction cup over the cover.
Fiction book (1996) -
Can you get the suction cup flat to the plane of the door?
-
I got to say, these suction cups really work.
-
And I had these suction cups in my office.
-
The suction-cup arrow came up through the hole in the floor.
Fiction book (2001) -
The suction cup attaches to a prosthetic leg.
Academic text (2011) -
At the end of each finger, sapos have small suction cups and they won't let go of your neck.
Fiction book (1994) -
He pulls out a second suction cup and smacks it down on the smooth surface of the train.
Fiction book (1996) -
Using the suction cups, Phelps slowly pulls himself forward, a foot at a time, pulling and replanting the cups as he goes.
Fiction book (1996)
How Firm
2
1.5
2
3.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'suction' (creating a vacuum) + 'cup' (a hollow, cup-shaped object); a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer a cup-like device that attaches by suction. This N+N compound follows a transparent descriptive pattern common across languages, so the referent is immediately comprehensible without prior exposure.
Etymology
Suction cup comes from the simple image of a soft cup that, when pressed, makes suction by pushing the air out so it 'sticks' to a flat surface and 'holds' things without glue.