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drinking song

drinking song

1 3.2
A song people sing when they drink alcohol together at parties or gatherings
  • noun
  • /ˈdrɪŋkɪŋ sɔŋ/
translation icon : canción de borrachos
  • At the party, they started singing an old drinking song that everyone knew by heart.
  • singing drinking songs

It begins with the drinking song and ends with death.

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Examples

  • From a half-open window came the sound of a drinking song, bellowed by male voices to the accompaniment of pounding pewter mugs.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • During the celebration, everyone joined in a drinking song that filled the room with laughter and cheers.

  • How about a drinking song?

  • It's founded on drinking songs, and it has no bar.

  • No noisy students, no drinking songs.

  • I didn't want to make it sound like just a drinking song.

    Blog text (22)
  • It begins with the drinking song and ends with death.

  • The German played noisy drinking songs, his baritone voice increasing in volume with his drunkenness.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Then we will hear the old drinking song Gaudiama Sigintur, which we will all sing in Latin, followed by Carl's remarks.

  • I boarded an Aer Lingus 747 packed with alumni, and we sang drinking songs high over the Atlantic.

    Fiction book (1994)

Surface Forms

drinking song singular

Morphology

drinking + song

The meaning 'a song celebrating or sung while drinking' is directly and compositionally derived from 'drinking' (consumption of alcohol) + 'song' (a piece of music). This simple noun–noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the expression.

Etymology

Drinking song comes from old pubs and bars where people sang together while drinking. These loud, easy songs helped people celebrate and join in, so today drinking song means 'a song sung while drinking'.