/dringk/ , v. , drank or ( Nonstandard ) drunk, drunk or, often, drank, drinking; n.
v.i.
1. to take water or other liquid into the mouth and swallow it; imbibe.
2. to imbibe alcoholic drinks, esp. 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 fol. by to ): They drank to his victory.
4. to be savored or enjoyed by drinking: a wine that will drink deliciously for many years.
v.t.
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, esp. with eagerness and pleasure (often fol. 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.
n.
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 prec. by the ): His teammates threw him in the drink.
[ bef. 900; ME drinken, OE drincan; c. D drinken, G trinken, Goth drinkan, ON drekka ]
Syn. 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 . 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 .