alcoholiday

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English

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WOTD – 24 December 2023

Etymology

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Blend of alcohol ‎ holiday.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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alcoholiday (plural alcoholidays) (humorous, informal)

  1. A holiday or leisure time spent drinking alcohol. [from late 19th c.]
    • 1883, Mrs. Charles H[enry] Fernald [i.e., Maria Elizabeth Fernald?], “A Temperance Frolic”, in Footlight Frolics: Entertainments for Home and School […], Boston, Mass.: Lee and Shephard; New York, N.Y.: Charles T. Dillingham, →OCLC, scene ii, page 118:
      [N]ow you see we are out on a frolic, a spree,—on an alcoholiday. See it?
    • a. 1901 (date spoken), Hesketh Pearson, quoting Oscar Wilde, “The Family”, in Oscar Wilde: His Life and Wit, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published 1946, →OCLC, page 98:
      Before the American adventure Oscar [Wilde] had dealt indulgently with Willie [Wilde]'s weakness: "Oh, he occasionally takes an alcoholiday." But when his life became one long alcoholiday his younger brother, who hated to see people dirty, drunken and disreputable, ceased to be indulgent. "He sponges on everyone but himself," was Oscar's caustic summary.
    • 1911 October–November, A[braham] A[rden] Brill, “Freud’s Theory of Wit”, in Morton Prince, editor, The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, volume VI, Boston, Mass.: Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press, [for the American Psychological Association], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 280; republished in Sigmund Freud, translated by A. A. Brill, Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious, authorized English edition, New York, N.Y.: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1916, →OCLC, page 23:
      In a short story that I have recently read, one of the characters, a "sport," speaks of the Christmas season as the alcoholidays.
    • 1920, International Brewers’ Journal, volume 56, London: William Reed, →OCLC, page 450, column 1:
      There will be loss of time and loss of work on this account, and instead of half-holidays there will, too often it is to be feared, be half-alcoholidays.
    • 1949, Vaughan Wilkins, “Uncle Richard’s Annual Alcoholiday”, in Once upon a Time: An Adventure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 150:
      A little festival in celebration of favours received—in anticipation of favours to come! An alcoholiday! Fill up my glass, Malachi!
    • 2013, Geoff Berner, “Drunken Self-sabotage”, in Shannon Whibbs, editor, Festival Man, Toronto, Ont.: Dundurn Press, →ISBN, page 122:
      I guess the charm of playing host to Westerners' pig-wild cheap Easyjet alcoholidays had worn off a bit.
    • 2021, RayMan Ramsay, “What to Do until the Band Goes Away!”, in Promo Monkey: Monkey See, Monkey Two: Personas & Prima Donnas, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 170:
      [S]ome of them have Champagne flutes and still others with pint glasses of what appears to be Cognac, tumblers of Grand Marnier and jorums of Kahlua; oh my but they will enjoy this alcoholiday tonight, […]
  2. (rare) A period of time during which one intentionally abstains from drinking alcohol.
    • 1942 September, Lemuel P. Ereaux, “The Bare Facts”, in Leland D. Case, editor, The Rotarian, volume XLI, number 3, Chicago, Ill.: Rotary International, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 43, column 3:
      For skin disorders, we sometimes fix the diet by ordering the patient off the Seven Deadly C's—cocktails, coffee, chocolate, condiments, carbohydrates, cigarettes, and cheese. We often add an admonition to take an alcoholiday.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “alcoholiday, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “alcoholiday, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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