I. ˈdrəŋk adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English drunke, dronke, alteration of drunken
1. : being in a condition caused by alcoholic drink in which control of the faculties is impaired and inhibitions are broken and in later stages of which one tends toward or reaches insensibility
he came home drunk
drunk folks were never quiet — Truman Capote
2. : dominated as if under the influence of alcohol by some feeling (as fanatic zeal, imperious pride, or passionate love) so that calm, judicious, realistic reflection is impossible
if drunk with sight of power, we loose wild tongues — Rudyard Kipling
he was drunk , not with wine, but with joy — Maurice Samuel
3. obsolete : drunken 2
arrows drunk with blood — Deut 32:42(Revised Standard Version)
4. : relating to, caused by, or attended by intoxication
a drunk and fitful sleep
convicted of drunk driving — Time
Synonyms:
drunken , intoxicated , inebriated , tipsy , tight : drunk and drunken are plainspoken rather blunt words which do not imply either censure or apology and do not suggest exact degrees of intoxication. The former is generally postposed or predicative, the latter often preposed
“you think I am drunk? ” “I think you have been drinking” — Charles Dickens
he had seen front yards littered with empty bottles and three drunken boys sprawling on the grass after a dance at a club — Ellen Glasgow
drunken may suggest habitual excessive use of alcohol
a drunken sot
intoxicated does not indicate an exact degree of drunkenness, but, since its suggestions are learned and polite, it may indicate relatively slighter effects
and intoxicated as he was … he knew enough to charge the steward … with the present safety of the ship — Herman Melville
inebriated and the less common inebriate suggest more noisy, hilarious, or roistering indulgence
volunteering to sing a song (which he did in that maudlin high key peculiar to gentlemen in an inebriated state) — W.M.Thackeray
All of these preceding words may be used to describe the effects of any dominating feelings, emotions, or thoughts
England was drunk with her glory and with the hope of plunder — J.R.Green
he was no longer conscious of his emotions. He had become demented, drunk with the fury of his hatred — Liam O'Flaherty
drunken with blood and gold — P.B.Shelley
I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty — R.W.Emerson
he drank in the natural influences of the scene, and was intoxicated as by an exhilarating wine — Nathaniel Hawthorne
intellects inebriate with summer — Emily Dickinson
tipsy , mild and venial in suggestion, implies difficulty with muscular coordination and unsteadiness
drinking steadily, until just manageably tipsy, he contrived to continue so — Herman Melville
tight implies rather pronounced intoxication almost to the point of loss of muscular control, discretion, or judgment
He was tight, and, as was characteristic of him, he soon dropped any professional discretion that he might have been supposed to exercise — Edmund Wilson
II. noun
( -s )
1. : a period of excessive drinking : spree
after a week's drunk and a week to sober himself — F.M.Ford
also : a condition of drunkenness
old men sleeping off drunks in the gutters — Wisconsin Idea Theatre Quarterly
2. : a drunken person : drunkard
the great cost of jailing and hospitalizing drunks