drink

Less common meanings

6. 6
   one swallownouncountable or uncountable

   An act of swallowing liquid, especially a single serving taken or had.

   He stopped for a drink at the fountain.

   She took a deep drink from the canteen.

   UsageTake a drink, have a drink of water.

   Similarsip, swig, gulp, swallow

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To drink in honor of someone or something, wishing them health or success; to toast.

   The officers rose to drink their absent comrades.

   Drink to lofty hopes that cool — Visions of a perfect State : Drink we, last, the public fool, Frantic love and frantic hate.

   1842, Alfred, Lord Tennyson

   UsageToday people drink to someone or drink someone's health.

   Note

   The toast with no preposition: the person honored is the direct object, as in drink the king or drink absent comrades. Tennyson's 'The Vision of Sin' (1842) uses both patterns in one stanza, first 'Drink to lofty hopes' and then 'Drink we, last, the public fool'. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The person being toasted can be the direct object of drink. archive.org
   • Tennyson's The Vision of Sin was first published in 1842. gutenberg.org
   • The poem contains both quoted phrases, in the stated order within one stanza. archive.org
8. 8
   standard unitnouncountable or uncountable

   A single serving of an alcoholic beverage containing a fixed amount of pure alcohol, used as a unit of measure.

   In the United States, one drink contains about fourteen grams of pure alcohol, whatever the beverage.

   Health guidelines count a small glass of wine as a single drink.

   Note

   A unit of measure rather than a glass. Health surveys count in it, as a Vital and Health Statistics question about 'more than, less than, or about 2 to 3 drinks a day' shows. Because it measures alcohol, a drink of table wine in US guidelines is a pour of about 5 ounces, not whatever the glass happens to hold. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • A standard drink measures a specified amount of pure alcohol rather than the capacity of a glass. cdc.gov
   • Vital and Health Statistics contains the quoted survey question counting drinks per day. cdc.gov
   • US guidance equates one standard drink with approximately five fluid ounces of table wine, independently of customary serving sizes. rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov
9. 9
   take inverbtransitive

   To receive within oneself through the senses; to take in a sight, sound, or sensation fully.

   He paused at the summit to drink the vast silence of the valley.

   We lingered on the bridge, drinking in the sounds of the busy harbor below.

   UsageMostly drink in: drink in the view. Without in, it sounds literary.

   Similarabsorb, savor

   Note

   A figure of the senses: in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, ears 'have not yet drunk a hundred words', and Tennyson in 1850 writes 'to drink the cooler air'. The verb suggests eager, thirsty attention rather than mere noticing. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; Juliet speaks it. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • Tennyson wrote the quoted words in In Memoriam. en.wikisource.org
   • The Tennyson passage was first published in 1850. en.wikisource.org
10. 10
    downpournounfigurativelyAustraliacountable or uncountable

    A heavy fall of rain; a downpour that thoroughly soaks the ground.

    The parched fields finally got a real drink when the storm broke.

    After weeks of drought, the valley welcomed a long, steady drink from the skies.

    UsageOften a good drink: the storm gave the paddocks a good drink.

    Similarsoaking, watering

    Note

    An Australian figure that pictures rain as the land drinking. It turns up even in weather broadcasting, as in a 2023 News Breakfast report on Cyclone Ilsa. That makes it a warmer word than deluge, though the same report sets it beside heavier totals elsewhere that could do real damage. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A 2023 News Breakfast report on Cyclone Ilsa used drink for rainfall. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    the seanouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

    A body of water, especially the sea, thought of as something one might fall into.

    The fisherman lost his hat to the drink during the sudden squall.

    One wrong step on the icy deck and you'll end up in the drink.

    UsageWith the: in the drink, into the drink. Go in the drink means fall or crash in.

    Similarwater, sea

    Note

    It belongs especially to stories of ditching. John French's A Drop in the Ocean (1996) describes a pilot 'in the drink for three days', and Jack R. Myers's Shot at and Missed (2004) has planes that 'would go in the drink'. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • John French wrote A Drop in the Ocean. pen-and-sword.co.uk
    • A Drop in the Ocean describes a pilot using the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
    • Jack R. Myers wrote Shot at and Missed. oupress.com
    • Shot at and Missed uses would go in the drink about planes. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    smokeverbobsoletetransitive

    To smoke tobacco; to inhale and draw on tobacco smoke.

    And some men now live ninety yeeres and past, Who never dranke tobacco first nor last.

    1630, Taylor, John

    Note

    An obsolete stretch of the verb of taking in, which the sensory sense already extends to inhaling. John Taylor, the Water Poet, writes of men who 'neuer dranke Tobacco first nor last' in his collected Workes of 1630. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Drink formerly meant to smoke tobacco. en.wiktionary.org
    • The sensory meaning of drink includes inhaling. en.wiktionary.org