drinkle

English

Alternative forms

• drenkle

Etymology

From Middle English drinklen, drinkelen, drenklen (“to plunge, drown”), from Old English *drenclian (“to drown”), frequentative form of Old English drenċan (“to give to drink, give drink to, drench, make drunk, ply with drink; soak, saturate; submerge, drown, plunge; sink”), equivalent to drink +‎ -le and drench +‎ -le. Compare dronkle, drunkle.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪŋkəl

Verb

1. (transitive) To cause to drink; drench; drown; drink; get drunk.
   • 1921, George Henry Borrow, Lavengro, the scholar, the Gypsy, the priest:

     And the Mercury states that "the heavy rain drenched the field, and most betook themselves to a retreat, but the rats were all drinkled".

   • 1965, John Treadwell Nichols, The Sterile Cuckoo:

     We built a fire in the huge fireplace, then sat around drinkling bootleg beer and whiskey, compliments of Joe himself, Valley High's greatest athlete.

   • 2009, Claire Kilroy, All names have been changed:

     'Get this one into bed and it's a royal flush!' His face twinkled, his gums sparkled, his eyes kindled, his brow darkened. I bridled and bristled, nettled and rankled, then drinkled and drankled some more.

2. (intransitive) To drown.

Derived terms

• drinkling

Anagrams

• Kindler, kindler, red link, redlink