English · Proverb Candidate

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Alternative form of there's many a slip twixt cup and lip.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Dạng thay thế của có nhiều trượt giữa cốc và môi

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Something can still go wrong even when success seems close

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Thành công còn có thể thất bại ngay gần cuối

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: many slips between cup and lip

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

I think I've got the job, but there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: Mouth & tongue

Common questions

What does “there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip” mean?

Alternative form of there's many a slip twixt cup and lip.

Is “there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.