there's many a slip twixt cup and lip

The Dutch humanist Erasmus (c. 1466 – 1536), in his collection of proverbs called Adagia, noted that the Carthaginian grammarian Sulpicius Apollinaris (fl. 2nd century C.E.) recorded two proverbs, one in Greek and the other in Latin, with the same meaning: πολλὰ μεταξὺ πέλει κύλικος καὶ χείλεος ἄκρου (pollà metaxù pélei kúlikos kaì kheíleos ákrou, literally “much takes place between the (wine) cup and the upper lip”) and multa cadunt inter calice[m], supremaq[ue] labra (literally “many things fall between the chalice, and the upper lips”).^[1] The earliest English version of the expression recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is Richard Taverner’s 1539 translation of Erasmus’s work:^[2] see the quotation.

The proverb refers to the possibility of a drink being spilled from a cup while it is being raised to the lips and before it can be drunk.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ðɛəz ˌmɛni‿ə ˈslɪp twɪkst ˌkʌp‿n̩ ˈlɪp/, /ðɛːz-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ðɛəɹz ˌmɛni‿ə ˈslɪp twɪkst ˌkʌp‿n̩ ˈlɪp/, /ðɛɹz-/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪp

there's many a slip twixt cup and lip

1. (dated) In any situation, however well planned, something can always go wrong.

   Synonym: don't count your chickens before they're hatched

   • [1539, Erasmus, “Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaq[ue] labra”, in Richard Taverner, transl., Proverbes or Adagies with Newe Addicions Gathered out of the Chiliades of Erasmus […], London: […] Ricardum Bances, →OCLC, folios xv, recto – xv, verso:

     Many thynges fall betwene the cuppe and the mouth.]

   • [[1578], Iohn Lylly [i.e., John Lyly], “Thine or Not His Owne, Philautus”, in Euphues. The Anatomy of Wyt. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 129, recto:

     [Y]et conſidering that many things fall betwéene the cup and the lip, that in one luckie houre more rare things come to paſſe, thẽ [then; i.e., than] ſome-times in ſeauen yeare, […] there is no doubt but that they both will liue well in marriage, who loued ſo well before their matching: […]]

   • [1633 (first performance), Ben Jonson, “A Tale of a Tub. A Comedy […]”, in The Works of Beniamin Jonson, […] (Third Folio), London: […] Thomas Hodgkin, for H[enry] Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R[ichard] Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, published 1692, →OCLC, Act III, scene vii, page 521:

     But thus you ſee th' old Adage verified, / Multa cadunt inter—you can gueſs the reſt. / Many things fall betvveen the Cup and Lip: / And though they touch, you are not ſure to drink.]

   • [1777 February 24 (first performance), Richard Brinsley Sheridan, A Trip to Scarborough. A Comedy. […], London: […] G. Wilkie, […], published 1781, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 18:

     Aye, ſir, if the devil don't ſtep betvveen the cup and the lip, as he uſes to do.]

   • 1797, Thomas Browne, “Ancæus”, in A New Classical Dictionary for the Use of Schools, […], London: […] G[eorge] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinson, […]; and E[lizabeth] Newbery, […], →OCLC, signature D, recto, column 1:

     Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra. […] There is many a slip between the cup and the lip.

   • 1826 August, B. J., “Henwood”, in The Literary Lounger, London: [Ibbetson and Palmer for] Lupton Relfe, […]; W. Sams, […]; Kerr and Ashmead, […]; and Sampson Low, […], →OCLC, page 353:

     He forgot the old adage— / “There's many a slip / ’Twixt the cup and lip;” / and fancied himself so secure of the hand of Bertha, that after her declaration of the abhorrence in which she held her cousin, he gaily quaffed a cup of wine to his health, and actually made some approaches to intimacy, by drawing his settle nearer to him.

   • 1835, [Catharine Sedgwick], chapter XXIX, in The Linwoods; or, “Sixty Years since” in America. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 139:

     That "there is many a slip between the cup and the lip" is a proverb somewhat musty; but it pithily indicates the sudden mutations to which poor humanity is liable.

   • 1836, James F. O’Connell, chapter XVIII, in A Residence of Eleven Years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands: Being the Adventures of James F. O’Connell. […], Boston, Mass.: B. B. Mussey, →OCLC, page 246:

     [W]e sent and purchased bread and meat, but the eyes of Argus were necessary to prevent too frequent verification of the proverb, "many a slip 'twixt cup and lip." Even after our bit of meat was in the pot with the rice and we were superintending its cooking, some dexterous Chinese thief would whip it out with his chopsticks, if our eye strayed from it one moment.

   • 1839, Mansie Wauch [pseudonym; David Macbeth Moir], “The June Jaunt”, in The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith. […], new edition, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons; London: Thomas Cadell, →OCLC, page 270:

     […] Peter took occasion, from the horse casting its shoe, to make a few apropos moral observations, in the manner of the Rev. Mr Wiggie, on the uncertainties which it is every man's lot to encounter in the weariful pilgrimage of human life. "There is many a slip 'tween the cup and the lip," said Peter.

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Mr. and Mrs. Sam. Huxter”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 332:

     There's many a slip between the cup and the lip! Who knows what may happen, Mr. Huxter, or who will sit in Parliament for Clavering next session?

   • 1862 September – 1864 April, Anthony Trollope, “Mrs. Dale’s Little Party”, in The Small House at Allington. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published April 1864, →OCLC, page 87:

     She had heard of girls who would not speak of their love, arguing to themselves cannily that there may be many a slip between the cup and the lip.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, “The Chase of Robin Hood”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part seventh, page 240:

     And now Robin's heart began to laugh aloud, for he thought that his danger had gone by, and that his nostrils would soon snuff the spicy air of the woodlands once again. But there is many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, and this Robin was to find.

   • 1887, Thomas Adolphus Trollope, chapter XII, in What I Remember […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley and Son […], →OCLC, page 256:

     Losing no time in London I reached Birmingham on the evening of Sunday the 5th, and found my friend Hall quite sure of my election by the governors of the school on the recommendation of his friend Jeune. But then began a whole series of slips between the cup and lip! […] [A] part of the board wished, on financial grounds, to defer the election of a new master for a while.

   • 1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, “Preparation for England”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC, part I, page 98:

     With the blessings of my elders, I started for Bombay. This was my first journey from Rajkot to Bombay. My brother accompanied me. But there is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. There were difficulties to be faced in Bombay.

• there's many a slip between the cup and the lip, there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

• halloo before one is out of the wood; out of the woods
• it ain't over till it's over
• it ain't over till the fat lady sings

• there’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip on Wikipedia.Wikipedia