Pl. cyathi. [a. L. cyathus, a. Gr. κύαθος wine-cup, measure.]
1. a. Greek and Roman Antiq.: A cup or ladle used for drawing wine out of the CRATER or mixing-bowl; also, a measure (both dry and liquid) = about 1/12 of a pint. b. Med. Used in prescriptions for a wine-glass. (Abbreviated cyath.)
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxviii. (1495), 932. The weyght Ciatus conteyneth 7. dragmes.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1104. In three cyathi of water they will break inward Impostumes.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), I. 464. Hyle bears no greater proportion therein to soul than the drops in a cyathus to the waters of the ocean.
1854. Badham, Halieut., 522. The cyathus … was of as uncertain dimensions as our modern wine-glass, which is the medical cyathus, and a fair equivalent.
2. Bot. ‘The cup-like body which contains propagula or the reproductive bodies of Marchantia’ (Treas. Bot., 1866).
