Drink
Pronunciation
- UK enPR: drÄngk, IPA: /dɹɪŋk/, dɹɪŋk, d͡ʒɹɪŋk
- Rhymes: -ɪŋk
Origin 1
Alternative forms
- drinck obsolete
From Middle English drinken, from Old English drincan ("to drink, swallow up, engulf"), from Proto-Germanic *drinkaną ("to drink"), *drengkan, of uncertain origin; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- ("to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp"), nasalised variant of *dʰreǵ- ("to draw, glide"). Cognate with West Frisian drinke ("to drink"), Low German drinken ("to drink"), Dutch drinken ("to drink"), German trinken ("to drink"), Danish drikke ("to drink").
Full definition of drink
Verb
- (ambitransitive) To consume (a liquid) through the mouth.
- SpenserThere lies she with the blessed gods in bliss,
There drinks the nectar with ambrosia mixed. - Thackeraythe bowl of punch which was brewed and drunk in Mrs. Betty's room
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 2, That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
- He drank the water I gave him.You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
- (intransitive) To consume alcoholic beverages.You've been drinking, haven't you?No thanks, I don't drink.
- ThackerayBolingbroke always spoke freely when he had drunk freely.
- ShakespeareI drink to the general joy of the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo. - To take in (a liquid), in any manner; to suck up; to absorb; to imbibe.
- DrydenLet the purple violets drink the stream.
- To take in; to receive within one, through the senses; to inhale; to hear; to see.
- Tennysonto drink the cooler air
- ShakespeareMy ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance. - Alexander PopeLet me ... drink delicious poison from thy eye.
- (obsolete) To smoke, as tobacco.
- Taylor (1630)And some men now live ninety years and past,
Who never drank tobacco first nor last.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Origin 2
From Old English drync, from Proto-Germanic *drunkiz, *drankiz. Compare Dutch drank.
Noun
drink
(countable and uncountable; plural drinks)- A beverage.I’d like another drink please.
- A (served) alcoholic beverage.Can I buy you a drink?
- The action of drinking, especially with the verbs take or have.He was about to take a drink from his root beer.
- A type of beverage (usually mixed).My favourite drink is the White Russian.
- Alcohol beverages in general.
- 1935, George Goodchild, Death on the Centre Court Chapter 1, She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.
- (colloquial, with the) Any body of water.If he doesn't pay off the mafia, he’ll wear cement shoes to the bottom of the drink!
Usage notes
A plainer term than more elevated term beverage. Beverage is of French origin, while drink is of Old English origin, and this stylistic difference by origin is common; see list of English words with dual French and Anglo-Saxon variations.