boose or booze

Meanings

1. 1noununcountableinformal

   Alcohol, especially beer or spirits, drunk in large amounts.

   Grammar: Uncountable: some booze, a lot of booze. Not 'a booze' unless referring to a specific type informally.

   Patterns

   • buy booze
   • a bottle of booze
   • too much booze

   They stopped at the store to buy booze for the party.

   He drank too much booze and felt terrible the next day.

   The police found a stash of booze in the back of the car.

2. 2verbintransitiveinformal

   To drink alcohol heavily or regularly.

   Grammar: Intransitive: they boozed all night. Often used with 'it up' in informal speech.

   Patterns

   • booze all night
   • booze it up
   • go out boozing

   They boozed until the early hours of the morning.

   He likes to booze with his friends on weekends.

   After the exam, the students went out and boozed it up.

Word forms

Common combinations

cheap booze

They bought cheap booze for the camping trip.

booze cruise

The booze cruise took tourists to buy alcohol at sea.

booze problem

He admitted he had a booze problem and sought help.

booze up

They had a big booze up to celebrate the win.

Synonyms and how they differ

alcohol

Alcohol is the neutral, formal term; booze is informal and often suggests excessive or casual drinking.

liquor

Liquor usually refers to strong distilled drinks, while booze can mean any alcoholic drink.

Word family

boozer noun

A person who drinks a lot of alcohol, or (British, informal) a pub.

boozy adjective

Involving or smelling of a lot of alcohol; e.g., a boozy lunch.

Commonly confused: boose or booze or boose?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “boose or booze”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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