quaffed; quaffing; quaffs
: to drink (a usually alcoholic beverage) heartily or copiously
At Fort William, goods were exchanged, bills were tallied, brandy was quaffed, songs were sung.—
Will Ferguson
Will FergusonYoung Cheltenham ladies and gentlemen in striped shirts and Barbours quaffed their drinks and guffawed loudly.—John Ayto
John Ayto… quaff a flagon of nut-brown ale …—William Thackeray
William Thackeray… curled up on her couch, wearing lounge pants, quaffing her third glass of wine …—Nathan Heller
Nathan Heller… and in the chimney-corner, they all four quaffed, and smoked, and prosed, and dozed, as they had done of old.—Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens… quaffing from massive steins of German beer while chatting it up with new friends.—Jeanne Potter
Jeanne Potter
quaffing
adjective
It's a quaffing [=quaffable] wine, one that you drink rather than sip attentively as you might a more complex red …
—Barbara Ensrud
Barbara Ensrud
Did you know?
Quaff and Slug
Nowadays, quaff has an old-fashioned, literary sound to it. For more contemporary words that suggest drinking a lot of something, especially in big gulps and in large quantity, you might try drain, pound, or slug. If you are a daintier drinker, you might say that you prefer to sip, imbibe or partake in the beverage of your choice. Quaff is by no means the oldest of these terms—earliest evidence of it in use is from the early 1500s, whereas sip dates to the 14th century—but it is the only one with the mysterious "origin unknown" etymology.
Examples of quaff in a Sentence
We stopped at a bar and quaffed a few beers.
after digging our car out of the snowdrift, we were ready to quaff some hot chocolate
Recent Examples on the Web
Of the billionaires who line up on the Messeplatz for the First Choice VIP opening at Art Basel, few would be out of place palming handshakes and quaffing Champagne at the Steigenberger Icon Grandhotel Belvédère.
—Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 20 Mar. 2026
Playwright Yasmina Reza’s middle-class cast of four brew, and gleefully quaff, an amoral spew of modern age self-preoccupation.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 2 Feb. 2026
Momoa’s irresponsible, endlessly chatty Jonny is first seen being dumped by his long-suffering girlfriend Valentina (Morena Baccarin) and is the kind of guy who quaffs a beer even while fighting off a gang of murderous yakuza.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 26 Jan. 2026
Just gazing at a rhubarb gimlet here is (almost) as enjoyable as quaffing it.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for quaff
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Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 20 Mar. 2026
Playwright Yasmina Reza’s middle-class cast of four brew, and gleefully quaff, an amoral spew of modern age self-preoccupation.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 2 Feb. 2026
Momoa’s irresponsible, endlessly chatty Jonny is first seen being dumped by his long-suffering girlfriend Valentina (Morena Baccarin) and is the kind of guy who quaffs a beer even while fighting off a gang of murderous yakuza.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 26 Jan. 2026
Just gazing at a rhubarb gimlet here is (almost) as enjoyable as quaffing it.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for quaff
Cite this Entry
“Quaff.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quaff. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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