c. 1200, "to submerge, sink; drown, kill by drowning," from Old English drencan "give drink to, ply with drink, make drunk; soak, saturate; submerge, drown," causative of drincan "to drink" (see drink (v.)), from Proto-Germanic *drankijan (source also of Old Norse drekkja, Swedish dränka, Dutch drenken, German tränken, Gothic dragkjan "to give to drink").

The sense of "to wet thoroughly by throwing liquid over" is by 1550s. For similar causal pairs, compare stink and stench, cling and clench, shrink and Middle English shrench "cause to shrink." Related: Drenched; drenching.

late 14c., from Old French imbiber, embiber "to soak into," and directly from Latin imbibere "absorb, drink in, inhale," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + bibere "to drink," related to potare "to drink," from PIE root *po(i)- "to drink." Figurative sense of "mentally drink in" (knowledge, ideas, etc.) was the main one in classical Latin, first attested in English 1550s. Related: Imbibed; imbibing.

Old English dranc, singular past tense of drink. It also became past participle 17c.-19c., probably to avoid the pejorative associations of drunk.

"fit or suitable for drinking," mid-15c., from drink (v.) + -able. Related: Drinkability.

Old English drincere, "one who drinks," agent noun from drink (v.). Specifically of habitual consumers of alcoholic beverages from c. 1200.

late 12c., drinkinge, "the action of drinking," especially drinking for pleasure, verbal noun from drink (v.). Drinking problem "alcoholism" is by 1953; earlier was drinking habit (by 1825).

early 14c., drounen, "suffocate by immersion in water or other fluid," also intransitive, "be suffocated by immersion (etc.)," also figurative, "to overwhelm or overpower by rising above as a flood," perhaps from an unrecorded variant of Old English druncnian (Middle English druncnen) "be swallowed up by water" (originally of ships as well as living things); at any rate it is probably from the base of drincan "to drink" (see drink (v.) and compare drench).

Or perhaps it is from Old Norse drukna "be drowned," which has at least influenced the modern form of the word, via North of England dialect. Related: Drowned; drowning. To drown (someone or something) out formerly was "to force to come out by influx of water;" in reference to sounds, by 1884.

past participle and former past tense of drink, used as an adjective from mid-14c. in sense "intoxicated, inebriated." In various expressions, such as drunk as a lord (1891), Drunk as a Wheelbarrow (1709); Chaucer has dronke ... as a Mous (c. 1386). Formerly also, of things, "drenched, saturated" (late 14c.).  The noun meaning "drunken person" is from 1852; earlier this would have been a drunkard. Meaning "a spree, a drinking bout" is by 1779.

Medieval folklore distinguished four successive stages of drunkenness, based on the animals they made men resemble: sheep, lion, ape, sow. Drunk driver "intoxicated operator of a vehicle" is attested by 1912 of automobile drivers; from 1898 of horse-drawn vehicles; by 1894 of railroad engineers; drunken driver is older (by 1770). Drunk-tank "jail cell for drunkards" attested by 1912, American English.

"person who is frequently inebriated, one given to excessive use of strong drink," 1520s, droncarde, but probably older (attested from late 13c. as a surname, Mauricius Druncard), from Middle English dronken, participial adjective from drink, + -ard.

full form of the past participle of drink. Now chiefly as an adjective, "inebriated;" that sense was in Old English druncena. The meaning "habitually intoxicated" is by 1540s. Also, of things, "soaked, saturated" (early 15c.). Figurative sense of "acting as if drunk, uneven, unsteady" is by 1786.  Related: Drunkenly. In the sense "addicted to drink, habitually inebriated" Middle English also had drunc-wile (c. 1200); drunkensom (mid-13c.).