bowse
English
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English bousen, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Dutch būsen, buisen, buysen (“to drink heavily”) (Dutch buizen). Related to Middle High German būsen (“to swell, inblow”). More at beer.
Verb
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- (archaic) To drink excessively and socially; to carouse.
- 1820, John Keats, “Lines on the Mermaid Tavern”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 131:
- O generous food! / Drest as though bold Robin Hood, / Would, with his maid Marian, / Sup and bowse from horn and can.
Noun
bowse (plural bowses)
- A carouse; a drinking bout; a booze.
Etymology 2
Origin unknown.
Verb
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