Careful Words

drink (n.)

drink (v.)

  To eat, and to drink, and to be merry.

Old Testament: Ecclesiastes viii. 15; Luke xii. 19.

  Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

New Testament: Luke xii. 19.

And do as adversaries do in law,—

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Taming of the Shrew. Act i. Sc. 2.

As he brews, so shall he drink.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Every Man in his Humour. Act ii. Sc. 1.

A man may well bring a horse to the water,

But he cannot make him drinke without he will.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part i. Chap. xi.

A little learning is a dangerous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 15.

  If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

New Testament: Romans xii. 20.

  Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die.

Old Testament: Isaiah xxii. 13.

Give me to drink mandragora.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Antony and Cleopatra. Act i. Sc. 5.

It is meat and drink to me.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act v. Sc. 1.

  It is meat, drink, and cloth to us.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Works. Book v. Chapter vii.

  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake.

New Testament: 1 Timothy v. 23.

  I drink no more than a sponge.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Works. Book i. Chap. v.

Of my merit

On thet pint you yourself may jedge;

All is, I never drink no sperit,

Nor I haint never signed no pledge.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. vii.

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): The Ancient Mariner. Part ii.

  Alonso of Aragon was wont to say in commendation of age, that age appears to be best in four things,—old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Apothegms. No. 97.

Drink, pretty creature, drink!

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Pet Lamb.

If on my theme I rightly think,

There are five reasons why men drink,—

Good wine, a friend, because I'm dry,

Or lest I should be by and by,

Or any other reason why.

John Sirmond (1589(?)-1649): Causae Bibendi.

  There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny; the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 2.

  Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.

Old Testament: Proverbs xx. 1.

Blessing on him who invented sleep,—the mantle that covers all human thoughts, the food that appeases hunger, the drink that quenches thirst, the fire that warms cold, the cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, the general coin that purchases all things, the balance and weight that equals the shepherd with the king, and the simple with the wise.—Jarvis's translation.

They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet

Quaff immortality and joy.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 637.

They never taste who always drink;

They always talk who never think.

Matthew Prior (1664-1721): Upon a passage in the Scaligerana.

Were 't the last drop in the well,

As I gasp'd upon the brink,

Ere my fainting spirit fell

'T is to thee that I would drink.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: To Thomas Moore.

Drink to-day, and drown all sorrow;

You shall perhaps not do 't to-morrow.

John Fletcher (1576-1625): The Bloody Brother. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,

And I 'll not look for wine.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): The Forest. To Celia.

I drink to the general joy o' the whole table.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 4.

Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen;

Here's to the widow of fifty;

Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean,

And here's to the housewife that's thrifty!

Let the toast pass;

Drink to the lass;

I 'll warrant she 'll prove an excuse for the glass.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): School for Scandal. Act iii. Sc. 3.

  Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.

New Testament: Matthew vi. 25.

  I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

Fill all the glasses there, for why

Should every creature drink but I?

Why, man of morals, tell me why?

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667): From Anacreon, ii. Drinking.

Let those that merely talk and never think,

That live in the wild anarchy of drink.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Underwoods. An Epistle, answering to One that asked to be sealed of the Tribe of Ben.

I cannot eat but little meat,

My stomach is not good;

But sure I think that I can drink

With him that wears a hood.

Bishop Still (John) (1543-1607): Gammer Gurton's Needle. Act ii.

Busy, curious, thirsty fly,

Drink with me, and drink as I.

William Oldys (1696-1761): On a Fly drinking out of a Cup of Ale.

  I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto?

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act i. Sc. 3.

Drink ye to her that each loves best!

And if you nurse a flame

That's told but to her mutual breast,

We will not ask her name.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Drink ye to Her.

by simon sarris • about