What does "drink" mean?
A beverage.
Drink
/dɹɪŋk/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A beverage.
- Grammar: drink is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: beverage, drinking, imbibe, swallow.
- Useful contrasts: abstain, bodegas, course rapidly.
- Usage evidence: Would you like something to drink?
How to use "drink"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "drink" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "drink" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "drink" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "drink" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "drink" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "beverage" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "drink", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A beverage. countable, uncountable
"I’d like another drink please."
- 2 the act of drinking alcoholic beverages to excess wordnet
- 3 Drinks in general; something to drink. uncountable
"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink"
- 4 the act of swallowing wordnet
- 5 A type of beverage (usually mixed). countable, uncountable
"My favourite drink is the White Russian."
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 any liquid suitable for drinking wordnet
- 7 A (served) alcoholic beverage. countable, uncountable
"Can I buy you a drink?"
- 8 a single serving of a beverage wordnet
- 9 The action of drinking, especially with the verbs take or have. countable, uncountable
"He was about to take a drink from his root beer."
- 10 any large deep body of water wordnet
- 11 Alcoholic beverages in general. countable, uncountable
"She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill."
- 12 A standard drink. countable, uncountable
"A drink of wine is about 5 ounces"
- 13 Any body of water. colloquial, countable, uncountable
"If he doesn't pay off the mafia, he’ll wear cement shoes to the bottom of the drink!"
- 14 A downpour; a cloudburst; a rainstorm; a deluge; a lot of rain. Australia, countable, figuratively, uncountable
"Now this is going to bring some huge totals of rainfall with it—200 to 400 millimetres with it—and along with that, these winds—gusts to 275 kilometres an hour near the cyclone [Cyclone Ilsa] core—and that's a real concern. That's very destructive winds and it's going to carry this inertia and the rain with it well inland. And we're likely going to be talking about a cyclone all the way through Friday as it slowly weakens, eventually washing that moisture out into a front going through the south. It means the southeast is getting a drink but W.A.'s northwest really copping it, individual totals significantly higher than what you're seeing here [on the weather map]."
- 15 Amount. countable, informal, uncountable
"He [a sea-serpent] was giant, massive. A huge drink of man-eater. But even now, you know, I could take him."
Verb
- 1 To consume (a liquid) through the mouth. ambitransitive
"He drank the water I gave him."
- 2 be fascinated or spell-bound by; pay close attention to wordnet
- 3 To consume the liquid contained within (a bottle, glass, etc.). metonymically, transitive
"Jack drank the whole bottle by himself."
- 4 take in liquids wordnet
- 5 To consume alcoholic beverages. intransitive
"You've been drinking, haven't you?"
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 consume alcohol wordnet
- 7 To take in (a liquid), in any manner; to suck up; to absorb; to imbibe. transitive
"Let the purple violets drink the stream."
- 8 drink excessive amounts of alcohol; be an alcoholic wordnet
- 9 To take in; to receive within one, through the senses; to inhale; to hear; to see. transitive
"My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words / Of that tongue's utterance."
- 10 propose a toast to wordnet
- 11 To toast (someone or something) with a drink, honour; to wish well (see drink to), especially archaic, transitive
"Drink to lofty hopes that cool — Visions of a perfect State : Drink we, last, the public fool, Frantic love and frantic hate."
- 12 To toast (someone or something) with a drink, honour; to wish well (see drink to), especially:; To express one's desire for the accomplishment of a toast, sentiment or event, to wish, hope (for), forward (especially as 'to drink the health (of someone)'). archaic, transitive
"At the same time were great Acclamations & they drunk Damnation to Dʳ. Sacheverell, Mʳ Tilly, and all the Dʳˢ friends."
- 13 To toast (someone or something) with a drink, honour; to wish well (see drink to), especially:; [with to ‘someone or something’] archaic, obsolete, transitive
"Had our great Pall ace the capacity To Campe this hoſt, we all would ſup together, And drinke Carowſes to the next dayes Fate Which promiſes Royall perill, Trumpetters With brazen dinne blaſt you the Cittics eare, Make mingle with our ratling Tabourines, That heauen and earth may ſtrike their ſounds together, Applauding our approach."
- 14 To smoke, as tobacco. obsolete, transitive
"And some men now live ninety yeeres and past, Who never dranke tobacco first nor last."
- 15 Used in phrasal verbs: drink down, drink in, drink off, drink out, drink to, drink up.
Example
"Would you like something to drink?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "drink"?
Common synonyms include: beverage, drinking, imbibe, swallow, absorb, absorb.
How do you use "drink" in a sentence?
Would you like something to drink?
How do you pronounce "drink"?
Pronounced /dɹɪŋk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English drinken, from Old English drincan (“to drink, swallow up, engulf”), from Proto-West Germanic *drinkan, from Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”), of uncertain origin; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- (“to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp”), nasalised variant of *dʰreǵ- (“to draw, glide”). Cognates Cognate with Yola drink (“to drink”), North Frisian drank, drainke, drink, drinke (“to drink”), West Frisian drinke (“to drink”), Alemannic German trénge, trenhu, trinche, tringhien, trinke (“to drink”), Bavarian dringa, trinckn, trinkhn, trinkn (“to drink”), Cimbrian trinkan, trinkhan (“to drink”), Dutch, Low German drinken (“to drink”), German, Mòcheno trinken (“to drink”), Luxembourgish drénken (“to drink”), Yiddish טרינקען (trinken, “to drink”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål drikke (“to drink”), Elfdalian drikka (“to drink”), Faroese, Icelandic drekka (“to drink”), Jutish drenk (“to drink”), Norwegian Nynorsk drikka, drikke (“to drink”), Swedish dricka (“to drink”), Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌺𐌰𐌽 (drigkan, “to drink”), Vandalic drincan (“to drink”), French trinquer (“to booze, drink alcohol”), Italian trincare (“to knock back (a drink)”), Spanish trincar (“to get drunk”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English drink, drinke (also as drinche, drunch), from Old English drynċ, from Proto-Germanic *drunkiz, *drankiz. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Dronk (“drink”), Cimbrian gatrànkh (“drink”), Dutch drank, dronk (“drink”), German Getränk, trank, Trunk (“drink”), German Low German Drank, Drunk (“drink”), Vilamovian gytrenḱ (“drink”), Danish drik (“drink, beverage”), Icelandic drykkur (“drink, beverage”), Norwegian Bokmål drikk (“drink”), Norwegian Nynorsk drikk, drykk (“drink, alcohol”), Swedish dryck (“drink”), Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌺 (draggk), 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌺 (dragk, “drink”).