noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The operation of drawing blood to or from the surface of the person by forming a partial vacuum over the spot. archaic, countable, uncountable
2. 2
   a treatment in which evacuated cups are applied to the skin to draw blood through the surface wordnet
3. 3
   A similar operation for drawing pus from an abscess. archaic, countable, uncountable
4. 4
   Fire cupping, a traditional therapeutic treatment called in which heated cupping glasses are applied to the skin, supposedly to draw blood towards the surface. countable, uncountable
5. 5
   The taking of a small amount of a beverage such as tea or coffee into the mouth in order to taste it; a session where this is done. countable, uncountable

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6. 6
   The act of forming something into a cup shape. countable, uncountable

   "the cupping of one's hands"

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of cup form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms

aspirationbleedingbloodlettingbroachingdraftingdrainage

Example

More examples

"Carl stamped his feet against the cold, cupping his cigarette in his hand."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English cupping, equivalent to cup + -ing.

Etymology 2

From cup + -ing.

Related phrases

cupping glasscupping jarcupping therapycupping glassfire cupping

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.