Skinfuls

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A vast quantity of alcoholic beverage that can lead to intoxication if consumed
2. an excessive amount of a liquid, particularly in relation to drinking
3. or the limit of fluid a body can physically hold without adverse effects

Etymology: "Skinful" is a plain compound of "skin" and "-ful," the suffix meaning "as much as will fill" that appears in words like "handful" and "spoonful." The skin in question is the old word for a leather container, typically a wineskin or waterskin, so a skinful was originally the quantity a skin could hold. Its sense of an excessive amount of drink, especially enough to make someone drunk, grew naturally from the image of a wineskin filled to the brim. The plural "skinfuls" is simply the regular form, with the "-s" added to the end of the compound. Because the word is a transparent combination of familiar parts, the history is short and direct: the container gave the measure, and the measure came to describe a drunken excess.