carouse

(kə-rouzˈ)

intransitive verb ca·roused, ca·rous·ing, ca·rous·es

1. To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking.
2. To drink excessively.

noun

Related Forms:

• ca·rousˈer noun

Word History: The origin of the word carouse can be found in a German interjection that meant “time to leave the bar.” German garaus, which is derived from the phrase gar (“all”) aus (“out”), meaning “all out,” then came to mean “drink up, bottoms up,” and “a last drink before closing time.” The English borrowed this noun, with the meaning “the practice of sitting around drinking until closing time,” sometimes spelling the word garaus but usually spelling it closer to the way it is spelled today. Soon after the word is first recorded as a noun in 1559, we find the verb carouse, in 1567.