drinking

Drinking

Anacreontics 1

THE thirsty earth soaks up the rain,
And drinks and gapes for drink again;
The plants suck in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair;
The sea itself (which one would think
Should have but little need of drink)
Drinks twice ten thousand rivers up,
So fill'd that they o'erflow the cup.
The busy Sun (and one would guess
By 's drunken fiery face no less)
Drinks up the sea, and when he 's done,
The Moon and Stars drink up the Sun:
They drink and dance by their own light,
They drink and revel all the night:
Nothing in Nature 's sober found,
But an eternal health goes round.
Fill up the bowl, then, fill it high,
Fill all the glasses there-for why
Should every creature drink but I?
Why, man of morals, tell me why?

But quite fast he found out that drinking itself is the essential part of getting drunk. It's more sociable than popping a pill.

The pleasure of drinking beer didn't appear to me until I made my way to Northern Ireland about a year ago and I was introduced to such brands as Bass, Smithwicks and Kilkenny. Nowadays, if I ever want to get drunk I agree with my beer-guru friend that drinking is essential.

Btw, he was sober at the time!

Drink"ing, n.

1.

The act of one who drinks; the act of imbibing.

2.

The practice of partaking to excess of intoxicating liquors.

3.

An entertainment with liquors; a carousal.

⇒ Drinking is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, a drinking song, drinking cup, drinking glass, drinking house, etc.

Drinking horn, a drinking vessel made of a horn.

© Webster 1913.