† drifflev.
Obsolete.
1. transitive. To utter in driblets.
Π
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 14 These pidlinge and driblinge Confuters..with much adoe drifle-out as many sentences in a weeke, as he will powre-downe in an howre.
2. intransitive. ‘To drink deeply’ (Halliwell).
ΘΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (intransitive)]
to drink deepa1300
bousec1300
bibc1400
to drink drunk1474
quaff1520
to set cock on the hoopa1535
boll1535
quass1549
tipple1560
swillc1563
carouse1567
guzzle1579
fuddle1588
overdrink1603
to drink the three outs1622
to bouse it1623
sota1639
drifflec1645
to drink like a fisha1653
tope1668
soak1687
to play at swig1688
to soak one's clay (or face)1704
impote1721
rosin1730
dram1740
booze1768
to suck (also sup) the monkey1785
swattle1785
lush1811
to lift up the little finger1812
to lift one's (or the) elbow1823
to crook one's elbow or little finger1825
jollify1830
to bowse up the jib1836
swizzle1847
peg1874
to hit the booze, bottle, jug, pot1889
to tank up1902
sozzle1937
to belt the bottle1941
indulge1953
c1645 I. Tullie Narr. Siege of Carlisle (1840) 15 The Garrison's excessive drinking, called drifling.
3. To rain fitfully or in sparse drops, as at the ‘tail’ of a shower. Scottish.
ΚΠ
1639 [see driffling n. at Derivatives].
Derivatives
driffling n.
Π
1639 R. Baillie Let. 28 Sept. (1841) I. 220 Some jealousies did yet remaine, as driffling after a great shower.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
v.1593