in (one's) cups


in (one's) cups

Drunk. When you're in your cups, foolish ideas have a peculiar tendency of sounding like excellent ones. He called to apologize the following morning, claiming that he had been in his cups when he made those rude remarks.See also: cup

in one's cups

Euph. drunk. She doesn't make much sense when she's in her cups. The speaker—who was in his cups—could hardly be understood.See also: cup

in one's cups

Drunk, as in You can't believe anything he says when he's in his cups. [Early 1600s] See also: cup

in your cups

while drunk. informal In your cups is now used mainly to mean ‘drunk’, but in former times the phrase could also mean ‘during a drinking bout’. Either could be intended in the passage in the Apocrypha regarding the strength of wine: ‘And when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren, and a little after draw out swords’ (1 Esdras 3:22). 1948 Vladimir Nabokov Letter I have received your letter… and can only excuse its contents by assuming that you were in your cups when you wrote it. See also: cup

in (one's) cups

Intoxicated; drunk.See also: cup