birling

present participle of birl, chiefly Scottish
as in drinking
to take part in drunken revelry spent a good part of his time in Edinburgh birling into the wee small hours of the night

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for birling
Verb
  • Several commenters pointed to the fact that alcohol service can continue later than food service, arguing that removing late-night food could leave people drinking without an easy option to eat.
    Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Lacy said police had told him his son had gone out drinking with a friend, and at some point a physical altercation took place.
    Evy Lewis, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Three sitting rooms are complemented by a further three members’ social spaces for carousing in, concealed behind a subtle screen (here, DJs including Goldierocks make appearances, and mobile snaps are banned; staff politely place a sticker over mobile camera lenses).
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 May 2026
  • The team were meek in defeat, but after a weekend carousing and communing in central London, Newcastle fans arrived at Wembley with a collective hangover.
    George Caulkin, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Right in the middle of cheering, reveling masses was MARTA — a connective system of veins that efficiently moved the happy throngs.
    Doug Turnbull, AJC.com, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Mary Murphy, a young reporter from Queens, had been at Shea that night, reveling with her sisters in the upper loge section along the first-base line.
    Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 31 July 2026
Verb
  • To her credit, Reynolds swiftly rectified that, bingeing the first three seasons to get herself up to speed.
    Lacey Rose, HollywoodReporter, 4 Aug. 2026
  • This is someone’s Super Bowl, if the Super Bowl was about binging 15 pounds of cased beef tubes.
    Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 4 July 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Birling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/birling. Accessed 22 Aug. 2026.

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