1790, "of or pertaining to alcohol;" see alcohol + -ic. Meaning "caused by drunkenness" is attested by 1872; meaning "habitually drunk" by 1910. Noun sense of "one who is addicted to drinking in excess, chronic drunkard, old rounder" is recorded from 1891; an earlier term for one was alcoholist (1877 in clinical writing, earlier in temperance literature this word simply meant "a drinker of alcohol"). Alcoholics Anonymous founded 1935 in Akron, Ohio, U.S.
