Booze

The word booze has been in English since the Middle Ages when it entered as a verb, bouse, from Dutch busen, “to drink heavily.”

The noun booze may have been in use as early as 1714.

The adjective “boozy” was one of Benjamin Franklin’s synonyms for “drunk.” Contemporary with Franklin was a Philadelphia distiller appropriately named E.G. Booze.

The word booze is usually used humorously, enduing the act of excessive drinking with a connotation of harmless entertainment. This cartoon from the Otis Historical Archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, however, depicts booze as an enslaving addiction.