binge

English

Etymology

From Leicestershire and Northamptonshire dialect, binge (“to drink deeply", also "to soak, steep, drench", specifically "to swell a leaky wooden vessel by filling it with or plunging it into water”), of unknown origin.

Possibly inherited from Middle English *bengen, from Old English *benġan, from Proto-West Germanic *bangijan (“to press”), possibly related to *bangōn (“to bang”) and thus potentially cognate with Bavarian aufbenga (“to raise for processing”), Middle Low German bengen (“to evacuate, to force birth”, German Low German bängen, bengen, bingen), and possibly Middle Scots beynge, bynge (“to cringe”, Scots beenge), though the last could be a blend of bow (“to bow”) +‎ crenge (“to cringe”).

However, compare dialectal English beam and Scots beam, beene (“to cure leakage in a tub or barrel by soaking, thereby causing the wood to swell”), though these could be specialised developments of Old English bēam (“wood”), with variants in /n/ being due to influence from this word or assimilation before syncopated forms of the past tense suffix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪnd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndʒ

Noun

binge (plural binges)

1. A short period of excessive consumption, especially of food, alcohol, narcotics, etc.

   Synonyms: bender, jag, spree, toot, debauch

2. (by extension) A compressed period of an activity done in excess, such as watching a television show.

Derived terms

• archive binge
• bingeable
• binge-and-purge
• binge drinker
• binge drinking
• binge eat
• binge eater
• binge eating
• binge eating disorder
• binge flush
• bingeful
• binge-play
• binge-purge
• binger
• binge viewing
• binge watch
• binge-watch
• binge-watchable
• binge-watcher
• binge-watching
• binge watching
• binge-worthy
• postbinge
• prebinge

Translations

short period of excessive consumption, especially of alcohol

• Bulgarian: запой (bg) (zapoj)
• Catalan: gresca (ca) f, afartament, empatx (ca) m
• Dutch: zuippartij (nl)
• Finnish: ryyppääminen (fi), juopottelu (fi), kännääminen (fi) (of alcohol); ryyppyputki (of alcohol, several days in a row); mässäily (fi) (of food)
• Galician: bebedela (gl) f
• German: Gelage (de) n, Trinkgelage (de) n, Saufgelage (de) n, Besäufnis (de) n (alcohol)
• Greek: κραιπάλη (el) f (kraipáli)
• Italian: bisboccia (it), sregolatezza (it) f, gozzoviglia (it) f
• Macedonian: пи́јанка f (píjanka)
• Portuguese: compulsão (pt)
• Romanian: chef (ro) n, chiolhan (ro) n
• Russian: пиру́шка (ru) f (pirúška), запо́й (ru) m (zapój)
• Scottish Gaelic: daorach f
• Serbo-Croatian: пијанка f, pijanka (sh) f
• Spanish: atracón (es) m (general), comilona (es) (of food), botellón (es) m (of alcohol), francachela (es) f (colloquial), atragantamiento m
• Turkish: alem (tr), içki alemi, çilingir sofrası (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́пивка (výpyvka), п'я́нка (pʺjánka), пия́тика (pyjátyka)

short period of an activity done in excess — see also period,‎ bout,‎ streak,‎ spell

• Catalan: afartament m, empatx (ca) m
• Finnish: putki (fi)
• Spanish: atracón (es) m, maratón (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Czech: ^{(please verify)} žravost f
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vreetbui (nl) f
• German: ^{(please verify)} Fressattacke f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} abbuffata (it) f
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} compulsão alimentar f

Verb

binge (third-person singular simple present binges, present participle bingeing or binging, simple past and past participle binged)

1. (transitive, intransitive, often with on) To engage in a short period of excessive consumption, especially of excessive alcohol or media consumption.

   I binged on ice cream.

   She'll binge an entire series on the weekend.

   I'm totally happy to binge when I'm not busy.

   • 2017 January 12, Arwa Mahdawi, “Generation treat yo' self: the problem with 'self-care'”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     It’s nice to think that our bubble baths and personal time might have a larger political purpose (“Um, Foucault! I’m not just bingeing Netflix – I’m engaging in Platonic political philosophy in order to better serve others!”), but more often than not, our acts of self-care are simply acts of privilege.

   • 2025 June 2, Adrian Horton, “Tech-bro satire Mountainhead is an insufferable disappointment”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     ([Jesse] Armstrong, by his own admission, binged episodes of the All-In podcast, which features prominent investors and Trump’s AI/crypto czar David Sacks.)

Derived terms

• binge and purge

Translations

to engage in a short period of excessive consumption

• Esperanto: drinki
• Czech: (of drink): nalít se (+ inst.); (of food): nacpat se (+ inst.)
• Finnish: (of alcohol) juopotella (fi), ryypätä (fi); (of food) ylensyödä (fi), ahmia (fi), mässätä, mässäillä (fi)
• Italian: abbuffarsi (it)
• Russian: переедать (ru) (perejedatʹ), объедаться (ru) (obʺjedatʹsja)
• Spanish: atracarse (es), atragantar (es), atragantarse (es), ponerse a, dársele por

References

• Wright, Joseph (1898), The English Dialect Dictionary‎^[3], volume 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 269

Further reading

• binge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Bengi, begin, being, beïng

Swedish

Noun

binge c

1. (partitioned off) storage area, container
2. (slang) bed
3. pile (of goods, usually grains)

Declension

Declension of binge

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	binge	binges
	definite	bingen	bingens
plural	indefinite	bingar	bingars
	definite	bingarna	bingarnas