Skip to main content
Harvey Wallbanger

Harvey Wallbanger

1 7.7
A mixed drink of vodka, orange juice, and Galliano liqueur
  • noun
  • /ˈhɑrvi ˈwɔlbæŋɡər/
: Harvey Wallbanger
  • - Do you like Harvey Wallbangers?

Examples

  • At the party, everyone was raving about the delicious Harvey Wallbanger cocktails.

  • Let's talk about Harvey Wallbangers.

  • This is a fine, elegant Harvey Wallbanger.

  • Can I get a Harvey Wallbanger for my ex-wife?

  • And they experimented with cocktails: Screwdrivers, Harvey Wallbangers, Black Russians, and Pink Squirrels.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Could you make me a Harvey Wallbanger with extra Galliano, please?

  • After a long day, I enjoy relaxing with a Harvey Wallbanger on the patio.

Surface Forms

Morphology

Harvey + Wallbanger

This is a proprietary/proper name for a cocktail and its meaning (a mixed drink with vodka, orange juice, and Galliano) cannot be predicted from the constituent parts. 'Harvey' is a personal name and 'Wallbanger' is not a transparent, dictionaryized compound that would cue a beverage; even if its parts suggested 'wall' + 'banger', that would not indicate a cocktail to a B1 learner. Therefore the expression is idiomatic/lexicalized and not derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Harvey Wallbanger may come from a funny story about a man called Harvey who liked this drink so much that after a few he would leave the bar and 'bang' into walls because he was drunk. That's why the name stuck, and today Harvey Wallbanger means a mixed drink of vodka, orange juice, and Galliano.