# drinking

Pronunciation: say "DRING-king" /ˈdɹɪŋk.ɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle and gerund of drink. — present participle and gerund of drink
   - Simple: Present participle of drink. Use this -ing form when the action is happening now or as a name for the action itself.
   - _She swallowed her coffee too quickly, drinking it before it had cooled._
   - _The hikers were drinking from a cold mountain stream._

## Adjective

2. Safe or suitable for people to consume as a beverage.
   - Simple: Clean and safe enough for people to drink.
   - _Officials tested whether the well still supplied drinking water._
   - _After the flood, drinking water had to be trucked into the region._
4. Designed or used for the purpose of drinking from.
   - Simple: Made or meant for people to drink from.
   - _Each place setting included a drinking glass and a small water jug._
   - _Travelers refilled their bottles at a public drinking fountain._
5. Relating to the consumption of alcohol, particularly when excessive.
   - Simple: Connected to drinking alcohol, especially too much of it.
   - _Her doctor warned her that the drinking sessions were harming her liver._
   - _He blamed his weekend drinking culture for the missed deadlines._
6. Habitually consuming alcohol to the point of dependence.
   - Simple: In the habit of drinking too much alcohol.
   - _Neighbors described him as a drinking man long before the accident._
   - _Their drinking father spent most of his wages at the tavern._

## Noun

3. An act or session in which beverages, especially alcoholic ones, are consumed.
   - Simple: The act of having drinks, especially alcohol.
   - _A night of heavy drinking left the whole crew exhausted the next day._
   - _Years of steady drinking eventually caught up with him._

## Origin

Inherited from Middle English, formed from "drink" plus the suffix "-ing".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/drinking (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).