Meaning
To drink a great deal, usually of alcohol, and habitually rather than on a single occasion. The comparison is to a fish's apparently constant intake of water. Informal, and now usually disapproving or jocular in tone when describing heavy drinking. Informal; often disapproving or humorous, and increasingly avoided in health-conscious contexts. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The Phrase Finder traces the expression to 1640, quoting Fletcher and Shirley's play The Night-walker: 'Give me the bottle, I can drink like a Fish now, like an Elephant'. Etymonline instead dates it to 1744, a reminder that reference works differ on first citations. The image rests on the old belief that fish drink continuously through their perpetually working mouths; in fact, as the Phrase Finder notes, freshwater fish mostly absorb water through skin and gills rather than drinking it, while marine fish genuinely do drink seawater. The metaphor is built on partly mistaken natural history, though it survives the correction comfortably.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- could drink like a fish
- drank like a fish
- drinking like a fish
- drinks like a fish
Usage Examples
- My grandfather drank like a fish at every family wedding and was still the first one up to cook breakfast.
- If you drink like a fish all weekend, do not expect much sympathy from me on Monday morning.
- The novelist's characters drink like a fish and argue about philosophy until dawn, which is probably the point.