drunk

[druhngk] /drʌŋk/
adjective
1.
being in a temporary state in which one's physical and mental faculties are impaired by an excess of alcoholic drink; intoxicated:
The wine made him drunk.
2.
overcome or dominated by a strong feeling or emotion:
drunk with power; drunk with joy.
3.
pertaining to or caused by intoxication or intoxicated persons.
noun
4.
an intoxicated person.
5.
a spree; drinking party.
verb
6.
past participle and nonstandard simple past tense of drink.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English drunken, Old English druncen, past participle of drincan to drink
Related forms
half-drunk, adjective
undrunk, adjective
Synonyms
1. drunken, inebriated.
Antonyms
1-3. sober.
Usage note
Both drunk and drunken are used as modifiers before nouns naming persons: a drunk customer; a drunken merrymaker. Only drunk occurs after a linking verb: He was not drunk, just jovial. The actor was drunk with success. The modifier drunk in legal language describes a person whose blood contains more than the legally allowed percentage of alcohol: Drunk drivers go to jail. Drunken, not drunk, is almost always the form used with nouns that do not name persons: drunken arrogance; a drunken free-for-all. In such uses it normally has the sense “pertaining to, caused by, or marked by intoxication.” Drunken is also idiomatic in such expressions as drunken bum. See also drink.

drink

[dringk] /drɪŋk/
verb (used without object), drank or (Nonstandard) drunk, drunk or, often drank, drinking.
1.
to take water or other liquid into the mouth and swallow it; imbibe.
2.
to imbibe alcoholic drinks, especially habitually or to excess; tipple:
He never drinks. They won't find jobs until they stop drinking.
3.
to show one's respect, affection, or hopes with regard to a person, thing, or event by ceremoniously taking a swallow of wine or some other drink (often followed by to):
They drank to his victory.
4.
to be savored or enjoyed by drinking:
a wine that will drink deliciously for many years.
verb (used with object), drank or (Nonstandard) drunk, drunk or, often drank, drinking.
5.
to take (a liquid) into the mouth and swallow.
6.
to take in (a liquid) in any manner; absorb.
7.
to take in through the senses, especially with eagerness and pleasure (often followed by in):
He drank in the beauty of the scene.
8.
to swallow the contents of (a cup, glass, etc.).
9.
to propose or participate in a toast to (a person, thing, or event):
to drink one's health.
noun
10.
any liquid that is swallowed to quench thirst, for nourishment, etc.; beverage.
11.
liquor; alcohol.
12.
excessive indulgence in alcohol:
Drink was his downfall.
13.
a swallow or draft of liquid; potion:
She took a drink of water before she spoke.
14.
Informal. a large body of water, as a lake, ocean, river, etc. (usually preceded by the):
His teammates threw him in the drink.
Origin
before 900; Middle English drinken, Old English drincan; cognate with Dutch drinken, German trinken, Gothic drinkan, Old Norse drekka
Related forms
outdrink, verb (used with object), outdrank or (Nonstandard) outdrunk; outdrunk or, often outdrank; outdrinking.
overdrink, verb (used with object), overdrank or (Nonstandard) overdrunk; overdrunk or, often overdrank; overdrinking.
Synonyms
2. tope. 5. quaff. Drink, imbibe, sip refer to swallowing liquids. Drink is the general word: to drink coffee. Imbibe is formal in reference to actual drinking; it is used more often in the sense to absorb: to imbibe culture. Sip implies drinking little by little: to sip a cup of broth. 9. toast.
Usage note
As with many verbs of the pattern sing, sang, sung and ring, rang, rung, there is some confusion about the forms for the past tense and past participle of drink. The historical reason for this confusion is that originally verbs of this class in Old English had a past-tense singular form in a but a past-tense plural form in u. Generally the form in a has leveled out to become the standard past-tense form: We drank our coffee. However, the past-tense form in u, though considered nonstandard, occurs often in speech: We drunk our coffee.
The standard and most frequent form of the past participle of drink in both speech and writing is drunk: Who has drunk all the milk? However, perhaps because of the association of drunk with intoxication, drank is widely used as a past participle in speech by educated persons and must be considered an alternate standard form: The tourists had drank their fill of the scenery. See also drunk.
Examples from the web for drunk
  • With the men drunk again, the next target of the confederates is fort sumter.
  • Other times, one or both were drunk and missed several normally easy shots.
  • Every night he got drunk as a matter of course, quietly and masterfully.
  • Copious wine was drunk, out of characteristic cups that were ritually smashed.
  • Ether was either sniffed or drunk, and in some towns replaced alcohol entirely.
British Dictionary definitions for drunk

drunk

/drʌŋk/
adjective
1.
intoxicated with alcohol to the extent of losing control over normal physical and mental functions
2.
overwhelmed by strong influence or emotion: drunk with joy
noun
3.
a person who is drunk or drinks habitually to excess
4.
(informal) a drinking bout
Word Origin
Old English druncen, past participle of drincan to drink; see drink

drink

/drɪŋk/
verb drinks, drinking, drank (dræŋk), drunk (drʌŋk)
1.
to swallow (a liquid); imbibe
2.
(transitive) to take in or soak up (liquid); absorb: this plant drinks a lot of water
3.
(transitive) usually foll by in. to pay close attention (to); be fascinated (by): he drank in the speaker's every word
4.
(transitive) to bring (oneself into a certain condition) by consuming alcohol
5.
(transitive) often foll by away. to dispose of or ruin by excessive expenditure on alcohol: he drank away his fortune
6.
(intransitive) to consume alcohol, esp to excess
7.
when intr, foll by to. to drink (a toast) in celebration, honour, or hope (of)
8.
drink someone under the table, to be able to drink more intoxicating beverage than someone
9.
drink the health of, to salute or celebrate with a toast
10.
(Austral, informal) drink with the flies, to drink alone
noun
11.
liquid suitable for drinking; any beverage
12.
alcohol or its habitual or excessive consumption
13.
a portion of liquid for drinking; draught
14.
(informal) the drink, the sea
Derived Forms
drinkable, adjective
Word Origin
Old English drincan; related to Old Frisian drinka, Gothic drigkan, Old High German trinkan
Word Origin and History for drunk
adj.

past participle of drink, used as an adjective from mid-14c. in sense "intoxicated." In various expressions, e.g. "drunk as a lord" (1891); Chaucer has "dronke ... as a Mous" (c.1386); and, from 1709, "as Drunk as a Wheelbarrow." Medieval folklore distinguished four successive stages of drunkenness, based on the animals they made men resemble: sheep, lion, ape, sow. Drunk driver first recorded 1948. Drunk-tank "jail cell for drunkards" attested by 1912, American English. The noun meaning "drunken person" is from 1852; earlier this would have been a drunkard.

drink

v.

Old English drincan "to drink," also "to swallow up, engulf" (class III strong verb; past tense dranc, past participle druncen), from Proto-Germanic *drengkan (cf. Old Saxon drinkan, Old Frisian drinka, Dutch drinken, Old High German trinkan, German trinken, Old Norse drekka, Gothic drigkan "to drink"), of uncertain origin, perhaps from a root meaning "to draw." Not found outside Germanic.

Most Indo-European words for this trace to PIE *po(i)- (cf. Greek pino, Latin biber, Irish ibim, Old Church Slavonic piti, Russian pit'; see imbibe).

The noun meaning "beverage, alcoholic beverage" was in late Old English.

The noun, AS. drinc, would normally have given southern drinch (cf. drench), but has been influenced by the verb. [Weekley]
To drink like a fish is first recorded 1747.

Slang definitions & phrases for drunk

drunk

adjective

Intoxicated by alcohol; plastered, schnockered, shit-faced (1340+)

noun
  1. A drinking bout; spree; bender, binge (1779+)
  2. A case or occasion of intoxication: Took him an hour to get a good drunk (1849+)
  3. A drunken person, esp a habitual alcoholic; Drunkard, lush (1852+)
Related Terms

cheap date, punch-drunk

[in all senses drunk verges on being standard English]


drink

Related Terms

chain-drink, i'll drink to that, take a drink


Drink

Related Terms

the big drink


drunk in the Bible

The drinks of the Hebrews were water, wine, "strong drink," and vinegar. Their drinking vessels were the cup, goblet or "basin," the "cruse" or pitcher, and the saucer. To drink water by measure (Ezek. 4:11), and to buy water to drink (Lam. 5:4), denote great scarcity. To drink blood means to be satiated with slaughter. The Jews carefully strained their drinks through a sieve, through fear of violating the law of Lev. 11:20, 23, 41, 42. (See Matt. 23:24. "Strain at" should be "strain out.")


The first case of intoxication on record is that of Noah (Gen. 9:21). The sin of drunkenness is frequently and strongly condemned (Rom. 13:13; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; Eph. 5:18; 1 Thess. 5:7, 8). The sin of drinking to excess seems to have been not uncommon among the Israelites. The word is used figuratively, when men are spoken of as being drunk with sorrow, and with the wine of God's wrath (Isa. 63:6; Jer. 51:57; Ezek. 23:33). To "add drunkenness to thirst" (Deut. 29:19, A.V.) is a proverbial expression, rendered in the Revised Version "to destroy the moist with the dry", i.e., the well-watered equally with the dry land, meaning that the effect of such walking in the imagination of their own hearts would be to destroy one and all.

Idioms and Phrases with drunk

drink

also see: