Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Quaff |
QuaffNoun1. A hearty draft. Verb1. To swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught: "My car gulped 20 gallons without even wiping its mouth.". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "quaff" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Note: Quaff \Quaff\, transitive verb. [imperfect & past participle. Quaffed; Quaffing.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: QuaffSynonyms: gulp (v), swig (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Food | Drink in, drink up, drink one's fill; quaff, sip, sup; suck, suck up; lap; swig; swill, chugalug, tipple; (be drunken); empty one's glass, drain the cup; toss off, toss one's glass; wash down, crack a bottle, wet one's whistle. |
Pain | Labor under afflictions; bear the cross; quaff the bitter cup, have a bad time of it; fall on evil days; (adversity); go hard with, come to grief, fall a sacrifice to, drain the cup of misery to the dregs, "sup full of horrors". |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Quaff |
| English words defined with "quaff": Quaffed, Quaffing. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Lofty timbers, the walls around are bare, echoing to our laughter as though the dead were there Quaff a cup to the dead already, hooray for the next to die! (Dracula; writing credit: John L. Balderston; Hamilton Deane) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Yet, if death be in this cup, I bid thee think again, ere thou beholdest me quaff it. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Many drank their last quaff. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Quaff" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 60.00% of the time. "Quaff" is used about 10 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 60% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 30% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (singular) | 10% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 10 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "quaff": quaff off. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
quaff | 24 |
apres quaff ski | 15 |
quaff winter | 7 |
friar quaff tuck | 6 |
quaff rum | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "quaff"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | pi me fund (drain, drink up), gëlltit me gllënjkë të madhe. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | عب (ait), جرع (dose), شرب بجرعات كبيرة (slurp), شرب (bib, drain, drink, imbibe, impregnate, infuse, ingrain, inoculate, stain, steep). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | пия на големи глътки (swig), изгълтвам наведнъж, изпивам на големи глътки. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | lokat. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | سرکشیدن (Guzzle, Lap, Swill), زیادنوشیدن , جرعه (Godown, Gulp, Potion, Shot, Sip, Swig). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | vider longs traits, lamper, boire. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zechen (booze, carouse, drink, drink to excess, tipple, to carouse). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | πίνω πολύ (guzzle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | לל'ום (gulp, nip, sip), ל'מוע (gulp, sip, swallow), לסבוא (bib, drink, tipple). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | nagy kortyokban iszik (to swig). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | tracannare (down, gulp, gulp down, swig). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | sluggey sheese (drink off, gobble, polish off, swallow up, wolf), iu (drink, imbibe, tipple). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | affquay esvaziar num trago, beber em grandes tragos (swill), beber em grandes goles. (various references) sorbi (absorb, devour, drain, drink, drink in, imbibe, sip, sup, swallow), bea cu nesaţ. (various references) пить залпом (drink off). (various references) nategnuti (stretch, tense), guliti (husk, peel, strip). (various references) beber a grandes tragos (swig, swill). (various references) klunk (draft, draught, drink, gulp, hooker, sip, sup), dricka (beer, drink, drinking, fuddle, gratuity, have, imbibe, lemonade, soft drink, take, tipple). (various references) kana kana içmek, kafaya dikmek (quaff off, slosh down, swig), büyük yudumlarla içmek. (various references) спорожняти (deplenish, empty, tilt, tip out, void), пити великими ковтками. (various references) sự uống từng hơi d i. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | bibo. (various references) |
| Low German | 800-1100 | quassen. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | carousser. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "quaff": quaffed, quaffer, quaffers, quaffing, quaffs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Quaff" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: guaff, Qadaffi, qef, quaf, quafe, quaffe, quaft, quaif, quaiff, qualf, quarf, queef, quef, quefe, queff, quief, quif, quife, quiffy, quift, quofe, quoff. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-f-q-u" | |
-2 letters: aff, qua. | |
-3 letters: fa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-f-q-u" | |
+1 letter: quaffs. | |
+2 letters: quaffed, quaffer. | |
+3 letters: quaffers, quaffing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Quotations: Fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.