carouse

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈɹaʊz/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French carrousse,^[2][3] from Middle French carous (“all out”), as in boire carous “to empty the cup”,^[2][3] from German gar aus (“quite out”), from the phrase gar aus trinken “to drink to the bottom”.^[4][2][5][6] German Garaus was originally the call announcing closing time at the tavern.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The practice of drinking a cup to the bottom, especially in a health (1559).^[7][4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In early English the word was often an adverb, in phrases like drink carouse.^[5][7] The noun came to mean a full draught or toast (1594) and then a drinking bout (1690),^[7] and the verb, first “to drink freely” (1567), widened to noisy, drunken merrymaking.^[7][4] Carousal was formed from the verb in 1765.^[3]

Timeline

• 1559 – noun, the practice of drinking all out.^[7][2][3]
• 1567 – verb, to drink freely and repeatedly.^[7][3]
• 1594 – noun, a full draught, a toast (obsolete).^[7]
• 1690 – noun, a drinking bout.^[7]
• 1765 – carousal.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To take part in a noisy, drunken celebration.
2. To drink heavily.

Noun

1. A drunken revel; a carousal.
2. (archaic) A large draught of liquor; a toast.

Word family

• carouser
• carousingly
• carousal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press