quaff
/kwɒf
/ /kwɑːf /verb [with object]
Drink (something, especially an alcoholic drink) heartily: he quaffed pint after pint of good Berkshire ale...
- Polished young things quaffed wine from oversized goblets, occasionally making a grab for the trays of mini-burgers and chicken satay being passed around by impeccably dressed waiters.
- Since they have never bothered to go and see what it is like, or to read the Burns Report, they cling to laughable nineteenth-century pictures of red-faced squires quaffing sherries handed to them by forelock-tugging serfs.
- Frankly, however, awards ceremonies do not constitute entertainment of any value, unless you are actually there quaffing the pricey champagne (and even then, it's debatable).
Synonyms
drink, swallow, gulp (down), guzzle, slurp, attack, down, drink up/down, force down, get down, finish off, polish off, drain, empty, imbibe, have, take, partake of, ingest, consume, sup, sip, lap;
take alcohol, indulge, tipple, carouse, overdrink, overindulge, tope
informal booze, sink, kill, glug, swig, swill, slug, hit, knock back, dispose of, toss off, get one's laughing gear round
take a drop, wet one's whistle, hit the bottle, take to the bottle, crack a bottle, drink like a fish, get tanked up
British informal get outside (of), shift, murder, neck, bevvy
North American informal bend one's elbow, chug, snarf (down), scarf (down)
archaic bib, sot
noun informal, dated
An alcoholic drink: porter is a dark, malty quaff...
- Flashing a parole identification card, the wiry Drummondville native explains that although he'd like to sample the occasional quaff in a pub, he'll have to wait until age 69 before he can.
- Try it with other tropical purées, such as passion fruit or guava, and you've got some ideal summer quaffs.
- The first drink you'll find here is Summer Berries, a non-alcoholic quaff, though I'm sure it would also work well with a lot of rum, tequila, gin, or vodka.
Derivatives
quaffable
- A scrumptious pizza, half-a-litre of very quaffable wine and three scoops of the finest ice cream cost just over £10 which was a real bargain in a city reckoned to be one of the dearer European destinations.
- From the Silk Road to Shanghai, wine in the Middle Kingdom has had a long march through history to evolve into what is fast becoming a quaffable libation for trendy young high-fliers.
- Okay, so it's not the most sophisticated wine, but compared with some of the filth sloshing around at the same price, Blue Nun is eminently quaffable.
quaffer
- You real ale quaffers are like free-range hens, roaming the countryside, feasting on what Mother Nature intended, while I'm the poor, battery version that's been unwittingly pumped full of lager chemicals all his life.
- Forget Shiraz quaffers - working-class voters have reason to be sullen
- Even some of the most legendary quaffers of the Fourth Estate retained a modicum of dignity.
Origin
Early 16th century: probably imitative of the sound of drinking.