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Sops
Cultural Context
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 164-171

An explanation of “sops” in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Gremio

But after many ceremonies done,
He calls for wine. 'A health!' quoth he as if    
He had been aboard carousing to his mates    
After a storm, quaffed off the muscadel    
And threw the sops all in the sexton's face,    
Having no other reason
But that his beard grew thin and hungerly,    
And seemed to ask him sops as he was drinking.    

Here, sops does not refer, as it would today, to the dregs left in a glass of wine. That sense only appeared a century after this play was written. At weddings during Shakespeare time, it was customary to serve little cakes which had been soaked (sopped) in wine. These are what the sexton asks Petruchio to pass, and what Petruchio proceeds to throw in his face.