Dipsomane

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who suffers from an irresistible, compulsive desire to drink alcohol to excess
2. A person afflicted by a chronic, uncontrollable urge to consume intoxicating liquor
3. One who is driven by an overpowering craving for strong drink and cannot restrain it

Etymology: In ancient Greek, "dipsas" was a serpent whose bite was said to cause unquenchable thirst. The Roman poet Lucan describes these snakes in his epic about the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. The name rests on "dipsa," the Greek word for thirst. Modern medicine later used that root to describe a compulsive craving for alcohol. The condition, "dipsomania," joins "dipsa" with "mania," the Greek word for madness or frenzy. The term was built from these classical parts, so the ancients had no word for this disorder. A person affected by it is a "dipsomane," formed on the same pattern, with the ending "-mane" standing in for "-mania."

Synonyms: dipsomaniac, alcoholic, drunkard, lush

Antonyms: teetotaler, abstainer