subs. (common).—1. A drinking bout; (2) a hard drinker: also SOAKER. As verb. = to steep oneself in drink; TO BOOZE (q.v.). Whence SOAKING = hard drinking; SOAKED = drunk: see SCREWED: TO SET SOAKING = to ply the pot (B. E., BAILEY, and GROSE).
1700. CONGREVE, The Way of the World, iv. 10. The Sun’s a good Pimple, an honest SOAKER; he has a Cellar at your Antipodes.
1690. LOCKE, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, II, xxi. 35. The tickling of his palate with a glass of wine, or the idle chat of a SOAKING club.
1709. DAMPIER, Voyages, I. 415. Scarce a ship goes to China but the Men come home fat with SOAKING this Liquor [Arrack].
d. 1716. SOUTH, Sermons, VI. iii. By a good natur’d man is usually meant neither more nor less than a good fellow; a painful, able, and laborious SOAKER.
1766. GOLDSMITH, The Vicar of Wakefield, xxi. You do nothing but SOAK with the guests all day long.
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 58. On this th’ old SOAKER said no more.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Patty Morgan the Milkmaid’s Story.’
| That particular day, As I’ve heard people say, | |
| Mr. David Pryce had been SOAKING his clay. |
1848. THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, lxvi. Her voice is as cracked as thine, O thou BEER-SOAKING renowner!
1855. C. G. PARSONS, Inside View of Slavery, iv. 51. When the Southron intends to have a ‘SOAK,’ he takes the bottle to his bed-side, goes to bed, and lies there till he gets drunk and becomes sober, and then he gets up.
Verb. (common).—1. To pawn: also TO PUT IN SOAK.
2. (anglers’).—To be lavish of bait.
3. (common).—To sit lazily over the fire (HALLIWELL).
