dipsomaniac
nounUK /dɪp.sə(ʊ)ˈmeɪn.i.æk/
Etymology From dipso- + -maniac.
1
One with a morbid paroxysmal craving for alcohol; an alcoholic.
- The dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink.1909, G. K. Chesterton, “The Progressive”, in George Bernard Shaw, New York: John Lane, page 54:
- The Spaniards are nice, but, of course, most of them are terribly poor, the ones who aren’t are impossible, I don’t like the tourists, mainly English and American dipsomaniacs, paid, my dear, by their families to stay away.1956, James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room, Penguin, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 2:
2
A persistently drunken person; a drunkard.
- Antonyms
- abstainer, teetotaler
- Related terms
- dipsomania, dipsomaniacal