drink

pronunciation

How to pronounce drink in British English: UK [drɪŋk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce drink in American English: US [drɪŋk] word us audio image

Noun:

a single serving of a beverage
the act of drinking alcoholic beverages to excess
any liquid suitable for drinking
any large deep body of water
the act of swallowing
Verb:

take in liquids
consume alcohol
propose a toast to
be fascinated or spell-bound by; pay close attention to
drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic

Word Origin

drink: drink: [OE] Drink comes ultimately from a prehistoric Germanic verb *drengkan, which is widely represented in other modern Germanic languages: German trinken, for instance, Dutch drinken, Swedish dricka, and Danish drikke. Variants of it also produced English drench and drown. Its pre-Germanic history is not clear, however: some have suggested that the original underlying notion contained in it is of ‘sucking liquid in or up’, and that it is thus related to English draw (a parallel semantic connection has been perceived between Latin dūcere ‘lead, draw’ and the related tsuk- ‘drink’ in Tocharian A, an extinct Indo-European language of central Asia).=> drench, drown

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 *drenkan (cognates: Old Saxon drinkan, Old Frisian drinka, Dutch drinken, Old High German trinkan, German trinken, Old Norse drekka, Gothic drigkan "to drink"), which is of uncertain origin or connections, perhaps from a root meaning "to draw." Most Indo-European words for this trace to PIE *po(i)- (source of 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.

vt. & vi.