quaff

1 of 2

verb

ˈkwäf  ˈkwaf 

quaffed; quaffing; quaffs

transitive + intransitive

: 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

Young Cheltenham ladies and gentlemen in striped shirts and Barbours quaffed their drinks and guffawed loudly.

—John Ayto

… quaff a flagon of nut-brown ale …

—William Thackeray

… curled up on her couch, wearing lounge pants, quaffing her third glass of wine …

—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

… quaffing from massive steins of German beer while chatting it up with new friends.

—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

quaff

2 of 2

noun

plural quaffs

1

: an enjoyable beverage : a beverage (such as wine) that is quaffed or suitable for quaffing

This pleasant quaff offers ripe peach and vanilla flavors and a good balance of bright acidity and moderate sweetness.

—Wine Spectator

… there is no better quaff with fried chicken than Champagne.

—Florence Fabricant

2

: a hearty draft or gulp

… a single sensuous quaff …

—James Villas

He lifted his glass, took a large quaff of the wine, swallowed quickly in his urgency to keep talking.

—The Virginia Quarterly Review

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.

Synonyms

Verb

• belt (down)
• drink
• gulp
• guzzle
• hoist
• imbibe
• knock back
• pound (down)
• sip
• slug (down)
• slurp
• sup
• swig
• swill
• toss (down or off)

Noun

• belt
• draft
• drag
• drink
• gulp
• nip
• shot
• sip
• slug
• snort
• sup
• swallow
• swig
• swill

Examples of quaff in a Sentence

Verb

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

Noun

she was so thirsty that she drank her iced tea in one long quaff

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Mark Zuckerberg just fired an entire industry’s worth of fact-checkers, then capped it off by appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience to quaff an entire jar of red pills. —Jeffrey Blehar, National Review, 15 Jan. 2025

And, a pro at quaffing iconic red carpet looks caught the attention of Balmain Hair and consequently was tapped to be one of their U.S. ambassadors since the brand launched in America two years ago. —Felicity Carter, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024

Noun

Nonalcoholic quaffs including beers and zero-proof cocktails are also available. —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 17 Jan. 2025

The former list includes quaffs such as the Bazaar Paloma (mezcal, tamarind, grapefruit), while the latter encompasses sips like the Weak in the Knees (a milk punch with Pathfinder amaro, spiced tamarind syrup, lemon, and demerara sugar). —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 15 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

origin unknown

First Known Use

Verb

1534, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for quaff

• coif
• cough
• doff
• goff
• groff
• off
• raphe
• scoff
• trough
• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff

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Kids Definition

quaff

verb

ˈkwäf  ˈkwaf 

: to drink freely

quaff noun