Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To take into the mouth and swallow (a liquid).
  • intransitive verb To swallow the liquid contents of (a vessel).
  • intransitive verb To take in or soak up; absorb.
  • intransitive verb To take in eagerly through the senses or intellect.
  • intransitive verb To give or make (a toast).
  • intransitive verb To toast (a person or an occasion, for example).
  • intransitive verb To bring to a specific state by drinking alcoholic liquors.
  • intransitive verb To swallow liquid.
  • intransitive verb To imbibe alcoholic liquors.
  • intransitive verb To salute a person or an occasion with a toast.
  • noun A liquid that is fit for drinking; a beverage.
  • noun An alcoholic beverage, such as a cocktail or highball.
  • noun An amount of liquid swallowed.
  • noun Excessive or habitual indulgence in alcoholic liquor.
  • noun Slang A body of water; the sea.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any liquid, as water or wine, swallowed or taken into the stomach as a beverage for quenching thirst, or for medicinal purposes.
  • noun Specifically Strong or intoxicating liquor; alcoholic stimulants collectively: as, a craving for drink.
  • noun A draught; as much of any liquid as is or may be taken at one time; a potion: as, a long drink of lemonade; have a drink.
  • To swallow water or other fluid.
  • Specifically
  • To imbibe spirituous liquors, especially habitually or to excess; be intemperate in the use of spirituous liquors.
  • To swallow (a liquid); receive (a fluid) into the stomach through the mouth; imbibe: as, to drink water or wine.
  • To affect in a specific way by or in drinking; induce a condition in by the act or example of drinking: as, to drink a bowl empty; he drank his companions drunk.
  • To suck in; absorb; imbibe.
  • Figuratively, to take in through the senses, as the ear or eye, with eagerness and pleasure: with reference to utterance or appearance.
  • To take in (vapor, fumes, or smoke); inhale: as, to drink the air. Old writers often used drink for smoke with reference to tobacco.
  • To draw up or exhaust: as, the heated air drinks up the moisture of the earth.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To swallow (a liquid); to receive, as a fluid, into the stomach; to imbibe.
  • transitive verb To take in (a liquid), in any manner; to suck up; to absorb; to imbibe.
  • transitive verb To take in; to receive within one, through the senses; to inhale; to hear; to see.
  • transitive verb obsolete To smoke, as tobacco.
  • transitive verb to act on by drinking; to reduce or subdue.
  • transitive verb to take into one's self by drinking, or as by drinking; to receive and appropriate as in satisfaction of thirst.
  • transitive verb to drink completely, especially at one draught
  • transitive verb to drink while expressing good wishes for the health or welfare of.
  • intransitive verb To swallow anything liquid, for quenching thirst or other purpose; to imbibe; to receive or partake of, as if in satisfaction of thirst.
  • intransitive verb To quaff exhilarating or intoxicating liquors, in merriment or feasting; to carouse; to revel; hence, to lake alcoholic liquors to excess; to be intemperate in the �se of intoxicating or spirituous liquors; to tipple.
  • intransitive verb to salute in drinking; to wish well to, in the act of taking the cup; to pledge in drinking.
  • noun Liquid to be swallowed; any fluid to be taken into the stomach for quenching thirst or for other purposes, as water, coffee, or decoctions.
  • noun Specifically, intoxicating liquor.
  • noun an allowance, or perquisite, given to buy drink; a gratuity.
  • noun (Script.) an offering of wine, etc., in the Jewish religious service.
  • noun drunk.
  • noun intoxicating liquor; esp., liquor containing a large proportion of alcohol.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English drinken, from Old English drincan; see dhreg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English drinken, from Old English drincan ("to drink, swallow up, engulf"), from Proto-Germanic *drinkanan (“to drink”), *drengkan, of uncertain origin; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dhrengh- (“to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp”), nasalised variant of *dhregh- (“to draw, glide”). Cognate with West Frisian drinke ("to drink"), Dutch drinken ("to drink"), German trinken ("to drink"), Danish drikke ("to drink").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English drync

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Examples

  • Inspiration, -- _Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also_: and again -- _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink_.

    Advice to a Young Man upon First Going to Oxford In Ten Letters, From an Uncle to His Nephew Edward Berens

  • The Law of the Jungle says that as the elephants are the lords of the jungle, they shall drink _first_: but they must be careful to drink _down the stream_, so that all the other animals may have a place higher up, where they can get _clear water to drink_.

    The Wonders of the Jungle Book One Sarath Kumar Ghosh

  • “Poh! man, drink it down, ” rejoin’d the sailor, “drink it down—it won’t hurt you.

    The Child and the Profligate. Pieces in Early Youth 1892

  • To date, they have handed out 2,000 liters of hydropacks (a packet you can drop into any water source no matter how polluted, put a straw in and drink), seven HydroWell Villages with enough supplies to produce 161,700 liters of drink* and have given 368

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • The boy went from ¨óh you can´t drink so I won´t drink´´ to ´´well I might have a couple of beers´´ to ´´we´re going out for couple more, be back in about an hour (10. 30pm - poor girlfriend tucked up in bed not being able to drink), to rather predictably rocking in at 4am smelling like a giant cocktail.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2010

  • The boy went from ¨óh you can´t drink so I won´t drink´´ to ´´well I might have a couple of beers´´ to ´´we´re going out for couple more, be back in about an hour (10. 30pm - poor girlfriend tucked up in bed not being able to drink), to rather predictably rocking in at 4am smelling like a giant cocktail.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2010

  • To date, they have handed out 2,000 liters of hydropacks (a packet you can drop into any water source no matter how polluted, put a straw in and drink), seven HydroWell Villages with enough supplies to produce 161,700 liters of drink* and have given 368

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • The boy went from ¨óh you can´t drink so I won´t drink´´ to ´´well I might have a couple of beers´´ to ´´we´re going out for couple more, be back in about an hour (10. 30pm - poor girlfriend tucked up in bed not being able to drink), to rather predictably rocking in at 4am smelling like a giant cocktail.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2010

  • The boy went from ¨óh you can´t drink so I won´t drink´´ to ´´well I might have a couple of beers´´ to ´´we´re going out for couple more, be back in about an hour (10. 30pm - poor girlfriend tucked up in bed not being able to drink), to rather predictably rocking in at 4am smelling like a giant cocktail.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2010

  • "_whether they drink for drunk_, or _drink for dry_?"

    A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume II (of 2) Philip Thicknesse 1755

Comments

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  • “I wish I could drink like a lady

    I can take one or two at the most

    Three and I'm under the table

    Four and I'm under the host�?

    --Dorothy Parker

    July 2, 2007

  • ha! I was adding the same quote!

    June 18, 2008

  • I don't drink water I'm afraid it's habit forming.

    - W.C. Fields

    September 25, 2009