sup

Etymology 1

The verb is from Middle English soupen, from Old English sūpan (“to sip, drink, taste”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (compare Dutch zuipen (“to drink, tipple, booze”), German saufen (“to drink, booze”), Swedish supa (“to drink, swallow”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sub-, compare Sanskrit सूप (sū́pa, “soup, broth”), from *sewe (“to take liquid”). More at suck. The noun is from the verb. There is no evidence of continuity with Old English supa. Compare Middle English soupe, from Old English sūpe, which has the same meaning as Middle English sope (“a mouthful or small amount of drink”), from Old English sopa, whence sop.

verb

1. To sip; to take a small amount of food or drink into the mouth, especially with a spoon.
   There I'll sup / Balm and nectar in my cup. 1646, Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple

noun

1. A sip; a small amount of food or drink.
   “Then, who,” the sick man meekly said, / “Shall heal the sick and hide the dead?— / “Snatch the despairer’s poisoned cup; / Clothe shame, and give the outcast sup?⁠— / “Lighten, if only by a hair, / The load of human pain and care?” 1898, Wilfred Woollam, “Fragments from Two Hearts”, in Child Illa and Other Poems, Sheffield: J. Arthur Bain; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., page 163
   We’re sisters in a sort and I’ll take Louie home with me and give her sup and shelter. a. 1936, J[oseph] S[mith] Fletcher, “Assault of Hannah’s Castle”, in The Mill House Murder: Being the Last of the Adventures of Ronald Camberwell, Alfred A[braham] Knopf, Inc., published 1937, page 234
   A long, long sup of beer flowed gratefully down his gullet. 1936, George Orwell, chapter 8, in Keep the Aspidistra Flying
   The hands touch B upon the head, give him sup from a cup and wipe his brow with a cloth, and finally embrace him as he slumps back down upon his desk. 2010, Graley Herren, “Beckett on Television”, in S[tanley] E. Gontarski, editor, A Companion to Samuel Beckett, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, part IV (Acts of Performance), page 396

Etymology 2

From Middle English soupen, suppen, Anglo-Norman super, from supe, soupe. More at soup.

verb

1. To take supper.

Etymology 3

Procopic form of what's up (“how are you doing?”)

intj

1. (slang) what's up (either as a greeting or actual question)
   — Sup? — Not much.

Etymology 4

From s- + up.

adj

1. (physics) Being or relating to the squark that is the superpartner of an up quark.

Etymology 5

First syllable of superintendent.

noun

1. (informal) Superintendent.
   They had put in the stretch-out and they were laying people off and there was talk of a union. "Let's have a union." "Mr. Shaw won't stand for it. The sup won't stand for it." 1932, Edward Livermore Burlingame, Robert Bridges, Alfred Dashiell, Scribner's Magazine - Volume 91, page 64
   Cpl. Perez, the radio sup said, "Everything checks out OK, Sarge. We're up and working." 2011, M. Thomas, Not Today, page 212
   But here comes the deputy vehicle, cruising right up to the shelter on the bike path. The sup is a retired county sheriff's deputy. 2012, Caroline Court, Rescuing Park Ranger Billie, page 55

Etymology 6

First syllable of superior.

noun

1. (mathematics) Supremum, upper limit.
   Values for the sup W statistic in excess of the 5 percent critical value (2.75 for booms and 2.77 for slumps) indicate rejection of the null hypothesis of no change in the dureation of booms and slumps in real commodity prices. 2001, Mr. Paul Cashin, Mr. C. John McDermott, The Long-Run Behavior of Commodity Prices
   For a wide class of connected open sets U, not necessarily simply connected, one proves the existence of a harmonic function on U having given boundary value (satisfying suitable integrability conditions) by taking the sup of the subharmonic functions having this boundary value. 2003 -, Serge Lang -, Complex Analysis, page 271

Etymology 7

Clipping of supplement.

noun

1. (bodybuilding, colloquial) Supplement.

Etymology 8

First syllable of supervision.

noun

1. (Cambridge University slang) A supervision.