drinking

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Swallowing a liquid

Nouns

1. drinking, imbibing, potation, libation; social drinking; bacchanalia; blue law; cocktail party, open or cash bar; bring your own bottle or booze, BYOB, compotation, keg party; carding; corkage; cask, cellar; distillation; proof.

2. (substances to drink)

a. drink, beverage, draft, impotation, liquor, nectar, broth, soup; home brew; potion; eye-opener, apéritif, after-dinner drink, digestif, chaser, bracer, refresher, smile, nightcap, one for the road. Informal, pick-me-up.

b. hard liquor, firewater, alcoholic drink, spirits, the bottle, little brown jug; banger; home brew; brandy, cognac, applejack, Armagnac, hard cider; [bathtub] gin, corn liquor, grain alcohol, grappa, mescal, ouzo, advocaat, rum, slivovitz, tequila, vodka, [corn, Irish, Scotch, blended, Canadian, bourbon, or rye] whiskey. Informal, family disturbance, moonshine, hair of the dog [that bit one], hard stuff, demon rum, booze. Slang, liquid lunch, nooner; hooch, rotgut, alchy, antifreeze, coffin varnish, embalming fluid, juice, goat hair, gunpowder, jungle juice, blue ruin, nose paint, tiger milk, eyewater, snake medicine, mule, mother's ruin, neck-oil, sauce, white lightning, redeye, cactus juice, gauge, panther piss, juniper juice, Mexican milk, leg-opener, stingo, screech, skag, corpse reviver.

c. cocktail, mixed drink, nightcap, pick-me-up; alexander, angel's kiss, B&B, banshee, between the sheets, Black or White Russian, bloody Mary, champagne cocktail, cobbler, collins, cooler, daiquiri, fizz, flip, frappé, fuzzy navel, Gibson, gimlet, gin and tonic, gin fizz, gin rickey, grasshopper, greyhound, Harvey Wallbanger, highball, Irish coffee, kamikaze, kir, mai tai, Manhattan, Margarita, martini, mimosa, mint julep, Moscow mule, old-fashioned, pina colada, pink lady, planter's punch, pousse café, prairie oyster, Rob Roy, rusty nail, sangaree, sangria, screwdriver, shandy, sidecar, Singapore sling, slippery nipple, smash, sour, spritzer, stinger, stonewall, Tequila sunrise, Tom and Jerry, Tom Collins, white lady, zombie; grog, [hot] buttered rum, toddy, flip, punch, posset, negus, cup, wassail, eggnog. Slang, electric soup, lunatic soup, giggle water.

d. liqueur, cordial, bitters, crème [de cacao, cassis, fraise, framboise, menthe, etc. ], curaçao, kummel, pastis, ratafia, sambuca, schnapps, triple sec; Benedictine, Calvados, Cointreau, Drambuie, Frangelica, Galliano, Grand Marnier, Irish Mist, Kahlua, Sabra, Tia Maria.

e. the grape, [white, red, or rosé] wine, malmsey, retsina, champagne; amontillado, blanc de blanc, blush, rosé, claret, cold duck, dandelion wine, dessert wine, fortified wine, hard cider, hock, jug wine, port, sack, saké, sherry, sparkling wine, table wine, vermouth; Asti Spumante, Barbera, Bardolino, Barolo, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon, Catawba, Chablis, Chardonnay, Chianti, Cinzano, Côtes du Rhône, Dom Pérignon, Frascati, Fumé Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Graves, Grenache, Riesling, Lambrusco, Liebfraumilch, Mâcon, Madeira, Malaga, Margaux, Marsala, Médoc, Mer-lot, Moselle, Muscadet, Muscat, Napa Valley, Navarra, Orvieto, Pinot Blanc or Noir, Pouilly-Fuissé or -Fumé, St. -Julien, Sauternes, Sonoma, Sylvaner, Tokay, Valpolicella, Vouvray, Zinfandel. Informal, bubbly. Slang, sweet lucy, dog juice, pluck, plug, salbe, schoolboy scotch, mad dog.

f. beer, ale, bitter, bock [beer], dark or light beer, ice beer, malt liquor, mead, dortmunder, pilsner, porter, pulque, stout, microbrew[ed beer], draught beer. Slang, brew, brewski, piss, sissy beer, suds, cold pop, road brew, swill, gusto, frosty, goog.

g. nonalcoholic beverage, virgin Mary; [mineral, distilled, sparkling, spring, tap or Vichy] water, mixer, tonic [water], soft drink, cola, seltzer, club soda, cream soda, ginger ale, root beer, sarsaparilla; nectar, [apple, cranberry, orange, tomato, grapefruit, etc. ] juice, lemonade, limeade; cider, shrub; coffee, café [au lait, filtre, noir, or latte], cappuccino, espresso, caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, Sanka, mocha; chocolate, cocoa; [ginseng, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, pekoe, green, herb, etc. ] tea, tisane; ice cream soda, frappé, milk shake, syllabub, malt[ed milk], phosphate; kava, kefir, kumiss. Informal, decaf. Slang, java, joe, battery acid.

h. dram, draft, draught, shooter, double, snort, nip, sip, sup, gulp, pull, swill; splash, gill, finger, jigger, pony, rock glass, shot glass, snifter, eighty-six; six-pack; split, fifth, jeroboam, magnum; hogshead, cask, keg. Informal, swig. See measurement, receptacle.

i. bar rag, cocktail shaker, stirrer, or strainer, corkscrew, crushed ice, ice tongs, soda gun, speed rack, swizzle stick.

3. (drinking too much) drunkenness, intoxication; intemperance; inebriety, inebriation; ebriety, ebriosity; insobriety; wine bibbing; bacchanals, bacchanalia, libations; alcoholism, alcohol abuse, dipsomania, oenomania; delirium tremens, DTs, fantods, jitters; hangover; twelve steps. Informal, bust. Slang, binge, tear, bat, toot, jag, bender, pink elephants, clanks; the morning after; grog blossom.

4. (one who drinks too much) drunkard, drunk; problem drinker, alcoholic, dipsomaniac, inebriate, lush, sot, toper, tippler, bibber, wine bibber, oenophile, wino, guzzler; hard drinker; soaker, sponge, tosspot, pub crawler; thirsty soul, reveler, carouser, tight skirt; cheap drunk; Bacchanal, Bacchanalian, Bacchante, devotee of Bacchus. Informal, boozer, barfly. Slang, alchy, groghound, souse, wino, lush, tank, rumhound, dipso, rummy, juicer, glowworm, hooch hound.

5. (drinking place) tavern, inn; public house, pub (both Brit.); barroom, taproom, rathskeller, buvette, bar [and grill], alehouse, dramshop, saloon, [cocktail] lounge, bottle club, barrelhouse, beer garden or hall, honky-tonk, roadhouse, singles bar; bistro, cabaret, café, cantina; publican (Brit.), bartender, barkeep[er], mixologist, beverage host, barback, barmaid or -girl, cocktail waitress or waiter, steward, bouncer; liquor or package store; cash, open or no-host bar; round, cocktail hour, happy hour, last call; designated driver. Informal, rumshop, watering hole; attitude adjustment hour. Slang, gin mill, meat rack, fillmill, happy shop, draft board.

6. brewer, distiller; brewery, microbrewery, distillery, still.

Verbs

1. drink, imbibe, quaff, sip, lap; take a drop, tipple, guzzle, squizzle, soak, sot, carouse, tope, swill; take to drink, name one's poison; drink up, drink hard, drink like a fish; drain the cup, take a hair of the dog [that bit one]; wet one's whistle, crack a bottle, pass the bottle; toss off; wash down; barhop; run a tab. Informal, booze, swig, prop up the bar, chug-a-lug, knock back. Slang, belt the grape, pop some tops, tie one on.

2. be or get drunk; fall off the wagon, drink the three outs, bend or lift one's elbow; see double. Slang, feel no pain; liquor up, lush, get high, hit the bottle or the sauce, go on a toot, paint the town red, hang one on, have an edge or a load on, have a jag on, crapulate, pass out [cold], honk, get on.

3. make drunk, intoxicate, inebriate, [be]fuddle, besot, go to one's head. Slang, plaster, pollute.

Adjectives

1. on the rocks, straight up, neat; potable, bibulous.

2. drunk, tipsy, intoxicated, inebrious, inebriate[d], in one's cups, in a state of intoxication, under the table, cut, fresh, merry, elevated, flush[ed], flustered, disguised, top-heavy, overcome, maudlin, crapulous, dead or roaring drunk, drunk as a lord, an owl, a top, etc. Informal, boozy, mellow, high [as a kite]. Slang, off the wagon; faced, [well-]oiled, rat-faced, boiled, soused, shellacked, fried, polluted, tanked, tight, cockeyed, squiffed, stinko, three sheets in or to the wind, mellow, out cold, stiff, blotto, feeling no pain, out of it, crispy, wasted, zonked, schnockered, shitfaced, smashed, squiffy, bombed, damaged, ossified, polluted, pixilated, rosy about the gills, spifficated.

3. (causing drunkenness) intoxicating, heady.

Phrases — alcohol will preserve anything but a secret; the drunkard's cure is drink again; heaven protects children, sailors, and drunken men.

Quotations — O for a draught of vintage!...Ofor a beaker full of the warm South (John Keats), We drink one another's healths, and spoil our own (Jerome K. Jerome), Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker (Ogden Nash), I have taken more good from alcohol than alcohol has taken from me (Winston Churchill), Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian (Herman Melville), Work is the curse of the drinking classes (Oscar Wilde).

Antonyms, see moderation.