[LOVING ppl. a. 2.] A large drinking vessel, usually of silver, having two or more handles, by which it is readily passed from hand to hand amongst friends or guests assembled together, each of whom successively drinks from its contents, generally at the close of a banquet.
1808. [In Minute-bk. of Committee for the Lord Mayor’s banquet, 9 Nov. (Dr. R. R. Sharpe).]
1812. J. Brady, Clavis Calend. (1815), II. 351. The Lord Mayor drinks to you in the Loving Cup, and bids you all heartily welcome.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 12. The loving cup … is … passed to the guest on his left hand.
1868. Brewer, Dict. Phrase & Fable (ed. 3), 527. In drinking the loving cup, two adjacent persons always stand up together.
