cupboard
noun
- closed or open-shelved side table for displaying clothes, food, dishware, more specifically plates, cups and saucers
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkʌb.əd/ / /ˈkʌb.ɚd/ / /ˈkɐb.əd/
noun
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English cuppeborde, cupbord. Equivalent to cup + board. Phonetic variants show that the /p/ in the original forms had assimilated to the present-day /b/ by the 16th century; the etymological spelling has, however, dominated from the 18th century.
- A board or table used to openly hold and display silver plate and other dishware; a sideboard; a buffet.
“Cupboꝛde of plate or to ſette plate upon buffet z ma.”
“from the cobbarde byſyde owr dyninge table”
- Things displayed on a sideboard; dishware, particularly valuable plate.
“But howe comme to pas, / Your cupbord that was / Is tourned to glasse, / From syluere to brasse, / From golde to pewter, / Or els to a newter, / To copper, to tyn, / To lede, or alcumyn?”
- A cabinet, closet, or other piece of furniture with shelves intended for storing cookware, dishware, or food; similar cabinets or closets used for storing other items.
“Put the cups back into the cupboard.”
“Cupborde to putte meate in – dressover s, m.”
- A closet for storing coats.
“I hung the coat in the cupboard and bided my time.”
- Things stored in a cupboard; particularly food.
“Some men they [make] love for what they can get, / And 'tis certain there's many a Lubbard; / Will sigh and will pant, seeming ready to faint, / And all for the love of the cubbard, brave boys! / And all [for the love of the Cup-board].”
verb
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English cuppeborde, cupbord. Equivalent to cup + board. Phonetic variants show that the /p/ in the original forms had assimilated to the present-day /b/ by the 16th century; the etymological spelling has, however, dominated from the 18th century.
- To collect, as into a cupboard; to hoard.
“There was a time, when all the bodies members / Rebell'd againſt the Belly; thus accus'd it: / That onely like a Gulfe it did remaine / I'th midd'ſt a th'body, idle and vnactiue, / Still cubbording the Viand, neuer bearing / Like labour with the reſt, where th'other Inſtruments / Did ſee, and heare, deuiſe, inſtruct, walke, feele, / And mutually participate, did miniſter / Vnto the appetite; […]”