DRINKER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does drinker mean? 

• DRINKER (noun)
  The noun DRINKER has 2 senses:

1. a person who drinks liquids

2. a person who drinks alcoholic beverages (especially to excess)

  Familiarity information: DRINKER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRINKER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who drinks liquids

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("drinker" is a kind of...):

consumer (a person who uses goods or services)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drinker"):

gulper; guzzler (a drinker who swallows large amounts greedily)

quaffer (a person who drinks heartily)

sipper (a drinker who sips)

sucker (a drinker who sucks (as at a nipple or through a straw))

Derivation:

drink (take in liquids)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who drinks alcoholic beverages (especially to excess)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

drinker; imbiber; juicer; toper

Hypernyms ("drinker" is a kind of...):

consumer (a person who uses goods or services)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drinker"):

bar fly (a drinker who frequents bars)

ale drinker; beer drinker (someone whose favorite drink is beer or ale)

drunk (someone who is intoxicated)

drunk; drunkard; inebriate; rummy; sot; wino (a chronic drinker)

guzzler (someone who drinks heavily (especially alcoholic beverages))

moderationist (a moderate drinker (as opposed to a total abstainer))

bacchanal; bacchant; drunken reveler; drunken reveller (someone who engages in drinking bouts)

social drinker; tippler (someone who drinks liquor repeatedly in small quantities)

carouser; wassailer (someone who enjoys riotous drinking)

Antonym:

nondrinker (a person who refrains from drinking intoxicating beverages)

Derivation:

drink (consume alcohol)

drink (drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic)

 Context examples 

They conclude that despite widespread decreases in glucose metabolism in heavy drinkers compared to light drinkers, heavy drinking shifts the brain toward less efficient energetic states.

(Study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects, National Institutes of Health)

The weasel was a drinker of blood, and it was ever her preference to drink from the throat of life itself.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A meta-analysis of 228,465 participants revealed that atrial fibrillation frequency decreased by 6% in regular coffee drinkers.

(3 Cups Of Coffee Daily Could Improve Heart Function, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The study focused on current drinkers to reduce the risk of bias caused by those who abstain from alcohol due to poor health.

(Drinking more than five pints a week could shorten your life, University of Cambridge)

In an age when the Premier was a heavy drinker, the Leader of the Opposition a libertine, and the Prince of Wales a combination of the two, it was hard to know where to look for a man whose private and public characters were equally lofty.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then, between them, mother and cub, they ate the blood-drinker, and after that went back to the cave and slept.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

They then investigated the effects of alcohol on these new measures by assessing a group of people that included light drinkers and heavy drinkers and found that both acute and chronic exposure to alcohol affected power and cost of brain regions.

(Study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects, National Institutes of Health)

“In heavy drinkers, we saw less regional power for example in the thalamus, the sensory gateway, and frontal cortex of the brain, which is important for decision making,” said Dr. Shokri-Kojori of the NIAAA Laboratory of Neuroimaging.

(Study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects, National Institutes of Health)