Word.ws English Dictionary

supernaculum

UK/ˌs(j)uː.pəˈnæ.kjə.ləm/

supernaculum adverb: according to the rules of an old drinking game in which the drinker upturned the empty cup and had to drink more if the remaining droplets spilled beyond the edge of his fingernail.

Adverb

supernaculum (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) According to the rules of an old drinking game in which the drinker upturned the empty cup and had to drink more if the remaining droplets spilled beyond the edge of his fingernail.
  2. To the last drop, to the bottom.
    • A dream put Aristotle out of breath, / A meteor he said, ’twixt life and death. “An quid fit frustra? An datur vacuum? Fill the pot, Edy! Supernaculum.” A blazing star’s a rare spectaculum!1816 December, “Fragmenta. Being Thoughts, Observations, Reflections, and Criticisms, with Anecdotes and Characters Ancient and Modern. No. XVI.”, in The European Magazine, and London Review, […]...
    • Nay, it shall be an overflowing bumper an you will; and I will drink it super naculum.1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 81

Noun

supernaculum (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Excellent wine that one would wish to drink to the last drop.
    • I've placed another flaggon on the table. Your worship knows it— number thirty-five:— the supernaculum.1796, George Colman the Younger, The Iron Chest, act II, scene 4
    • Between the mattings, or dangling from the arched awning, an experienced eye may detect little pet barrels of supernaculum; some racy wine sent as a present from the correrero of Malaga, to some old friend or patron in the metropolis.1836, Madrid in 1835: Sketches of the Metropolis of Spain and its Inhabitants, and of Society and Manners in the Peninsula

Origin of supernaculum

Pseudo-Latinism from super- + naculum, nagulum, Latinized form of German Nagel, intended to mean “upon the nail”, after the German phrase auf den Nagel (trinken).

Words formed from supernaculum

Questions about supernaculum

What does supernaculum mean?
Supernaculum means according to the rules of an old drinking game in which the drinker upturned the empty cup and had to drink more if the remaining droplets spilled beyond the edge of his fingernail.
What part of speech is supernaculum?
Supernaculum can be an adverb or a noun.
How do you pronounce supernaculum?
Supernaculum is pronounced /ˌs(j)uː.pəˈnæ.kjə.ləm/ (UK).

Words near supernaculum in the dictionary

  1. supermusicals
  2. supermutagen
  3. supermutagenic
  4. supermutagens
  5. supernacular
  6. supernaculum
  7. supernal
  8. supernally
  9. supernannies
  10. supernanny
  11. supernarrow

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: supernaculum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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