Word of the Day Archive
Friday September 9, 2005
quaff \KWOFF; KWAFF\
, intransitive verb:
1. To drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.
transitive verb:
1. To drink (a beverage) copiously and heartily
noun:
1. An act or instance of quaffing.
2. A beverage quaffed.
He gets drunk with his guides, makes eyes at the girls and gamely quaffs snake wine.
-- Pico Iyer, "Snake Wine and Socialism", New York Times, December 15, 1991
If you were patient and kept your nose clean, you could slowly, almost effortlessly, rise from serf to squire and maybe even all the way to knight, in which case you, too, would be entitled to quaff bowl-size martinis at midday.
-- Charles McGrath, "Office Romance", New York Times Magazine, March 5, 2000
Instead they consume caviar, feed off foie gras, chomp exotic cheeses, and quaff champagne.
-- "Internet Shopper", Times (London), August 11, 2000
Quaff is of unknown origin.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for quaff
