▪ I. drinking, vbl. n.
(ˈdrɪŋkɪŋ)
[f. drink v.]
1. The action or habit denoted by the vb. drink; spec. the use of intoxicating liquor, or indulgence therein to excess.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 37 Sume men ladeð here lif on etinge and on drinkinge alse swin. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. (E.E.T.S.) 58 Wythdrawe þe fro mekyl drynkynge. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. ii. 91 As for natural wine..the drinking therof is forbidden them. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §313 Finding their own provisions of eating and drinking. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocracy Wks. (Bohn.) II. 86 Gaming, racing, drinking, and mistresses, bring them down. |
2. An occasion of drinking; a convivial revel.
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 7 At euery tauerne in the yere, A solempne dyryge is songe there, With a grete drynkynge. 1522 Bury Wills (Camden) 118 A busshell and halffe of malte to be browne..to fynde a drinkinge vpon Ascention Even. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 99 You contend in your drinkings..who should drink most. |
3. concr. in
dial. use; see
quots.| 1552 Huloet, Drinckinge geuen to workemen after dinner, colosium. 1828 Craven Dial., Drinkings, beer given to labourers before and after dinner. |
4. Comb. a. with sense ‘used for drinking’, as
drinking-bowl,
drinking-cup,
drinking-fountain,
drinking funnel (
N.Z.),
drinking-horn,
drinking-liquor,
drinking-place,
drinking-pool,
drinking-pot,
drinking-trough,
drinking-vessel,
drinking-water, etc.;
b. ‘used for the sale or consumption of drink’, as
drinking-booth,
drinking club,
drinking-house,
drinking-inn,
drinking-place,
drinking-room,
drinking-saloon,
drinking-shop.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 334 The neatness of their *drinking-booths. |
| 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxxvii. X. 208 Two silver *drinking-bowls. |
| 1967 E. Paul Jewels in Jeopardy i. 11 Rather dubious entertainment in the Soho area, strip-tease clubs, *drinking clubs and so on. |
| 1658 W. Burton Itin. Anton. 121 A silver *drinking cup. |
| 1860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xiv. 216 A *drinking fountain..to freshen its thirsty square. 1882 Drinking fountain [see fountain n. 2]. 1968 A. Munro in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. 260 The drinking fountain surrounded by little puddles of water. |
| 1927 T. E. Donne Maori, Past & Present vii. 76 (caption) *Drinking funnel for tohunga when tapu. 1955 H. J. Phillipps Maori Carving Illustr. 9/2 Four beautifully-carved drinking funnels are on exhibition. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Drinkinge glasse, or potte, or cuppe, ampulla. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 24 ¶10 Her Name is written with a Diamond on a Drinking-glass. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Drinkynge house, cænatiuncula. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 79 Thou shalt go to some drinking-house of greatest resort. |
| 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. vi. 19 A *drinking Inne in Cheapside. |
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Ale, A *drinking Liquor made by infusing ground Malt in boiling Water. |
| 1853 ‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 143 Buffaloes have a regular *drinking-place. 1870 ‘F. Fern’ Ginger-Snaps 91 The man who..takes that child to bar⁓rooms and drinking places. |
| a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 80 Jewelled *drinking-pots. |
| 1855 R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) 172 The lobbies and *drinking saloons at the capitol. 1875 Mrs. Stowe We & Neighbors xli. 377 Finally we alighted before a plain house in a street full of drinking-saloons. |
| 1855 N.Y. Herald 6 Nov. 5/3 A multitude of *drinking shops have already been closed. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed xv, Dick entered the drinking-shop which was one source of her gains. |
| 1814 Scott Wav. lxiii, The stone-basin seemed to be destined for a *drinking-trough for cattle. |
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. ix. 20 All kynge Salomons *drynkynge vessels were of golde. |
| 1888 M. E. Braddon Fatal Three i. v, The *drinking-water of the house was supplied from this well. |
c. Special comb., as
drinking-bout, a fit of hard drinking;
drinking chocolate = chocolate 1; also, the powder used for making the beverage;
drinking-club, an association for the purpose of drinking in company;
drinking-habit, addiction to alcoholic liquor; the drink habit;
† drinking-money,
† -penny = drink-money;
drinking-nut (see
quot. 1909);
drinking problem, an addiction to alcohol, a tendency towards alcoholism (sometimes used euphemistically); see
problem 3 c (b);
drinking-song, one written about drink or drinking;
drinking up, the finishing of a drink;
drinking-up time, a short period after the legal closing-time in a public house which is permitted by law for the consumption of drinks bought before it.
| 1672 Cave Prim. Chr. iii. ii. (1673) 285 Not spent upon feasts and *drinking-bouts. 1873 Black Pr. Thule (1874) 8 As if he were at a drinking-bout of the lads. |
| 1920 Grocer 1 May 31/2 (Advt.), Delicious Chocolate at less money than Cocoa. Cup-Royal *Drinking Chocolate. No sugar required. 1972 J. Wainwright Night is Time to Die 49 His wife handed him a beaker of drinking-chocolate. |
| 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §19 Most free-thinkers are the proselytes of a *drinking-club. |
| 1899 W. James Talks to Teachers viii. 64 They talk of the smoking-habit and the swearing-habit and the *drinking-habit. |
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxviii. 582 Goo to your purse & gyve vs som *drynkynge money. 1611 Florio, Beueraggio..also drinking money. |
| 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 256/1 A stalwart native..with..a dozen ‘*drinking-nuts’ (young cocoa-nuts), the ice⁓creams of the Pacific. |
| 1957 Alcoholic Rehabilitation Commission News Let. (Berkeley, Calif.) July 2/2 The Sobriety Foundation of San Jose has been a going concern since 1954 in the human relations venture of assisting people with *drinking problems. 1969 E. Ambler Intercom Conspiracy (1970) ii. 46 He has what our American friends call a drinking problem. Not an alcoholic, but certainly a heavy drinker. 1982 Times 13 Apr. 5/1 It is now thought that there are 600,000 dependent drinkers in Britain alone with a further million to 1.2m with serious drinking problems. |
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 180 The slightest kind of musicke..are the vinase or *drincking songs. |
| 1960 Guardian 30 Nov. 2/3 The proposal for an extra quarter of an hour for ‘*drinking up’. |
| 1961 Times 29 Mar. 7/3 ‘*Drinking up’ time of 10 minutes. 1968 ‘H. Carmichael’ Slightly Bitter Taste x. 182 We stop serving at three o'clock and then there's ten minutes drinking-up time before we turn the key in the lock. |
▸
drinking game n. a game or contest involving the consumption of alcoholic drinks,
esp. as a forfeit or in response to some specified prompt (in
quot. 1617
app. referring simply to a bout of drinking).
| 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. iv. iv. 228 Beyond measure he was giuen to large drinking, (in plaine termes to drunkennesse)... And for these *drinking games, he had certaine faire chambers.., which were appropriated to festiuall solaces. 1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue i. iii. ii. 194 They may afterwards play at Foxe mine Host, or some other Drinking Game at Cards or Dice for their recreation. 1885 Outing May 187/1 Several drinking games were instituted. One recruit, standing upon his head, must drink a ladle of wine which the other held out to him; [etc.]. 1925 Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel 15 Jan. 12/4 Noisy parties of Chinese were playing the drinking game of ‘Fingers’—a guessing match where..the loser is compelled to empty his wine cup. 2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 31 Dec. b38/2 ‘Chopper’ has..even inspired a drinking game. You have to chug every time someone on-screen says ‘Dude!’, ‘Awesome!’ or ‘Sick!’ |
▪ II. ˈdrinking, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That drinks.
a. Of persons: Addicted to drinking;
spec. indulging freely in intoxicants.
b. Of a material: That sucks up moisture; absorbent.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Of milc drinkende childre muðe. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 339 Wast paper, Which we call, the drinking paper, which beareth no inke. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 97 Drinking men, wholly unfitted for the responsibility imposed on them. 1887 Pall Mall G. 23 Apr. 12/1 Tobacco..known in the trade as drinking tobacco, will carry the water better. |