Click below to listen to the phrase.
Choose the correct definition a, b or c.
a) to drink slowly and carefully
Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.
b) to drink quickly and recklessly
Well done ! That’s the right answer.
’to drink like a fish’ means you are drinking a lot of something carelessly and quickly.
The expression comes from the fact that fish are completely surrounded by water. It is usually used to describe the consumption of alcohol.
French translation
boire comme un trou
How NOT to translate : *boire comme un poisson
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Examples in context
’’We can drink like a fish’ : Passengers chug £800 bottle of ’aphrodisiac tiger bone wine’ at airport checkpoint to avoid binning it
As they chugged the wine a security manager warned them ‘drunken passengers’ would not be allowed to fly.
They were able to continue on their flight after they assured the officers they were capable of holding the drink, walking in a straight line to prove it.
Wang said : ‘We both can drink like a fish, but we’re afraid of wasting the aphrodisiac.
‘We won’t bring this kind of stuff anymore. If we do, we will register it as checked baggage.’’
The Daily Mail, 22 June 2015
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‘Londoners can now get drunk without drinking
A new pop-up bar in London is making it possible to drink like a fish out of water, or something like that. The bar, Alcoholic Architecture, uses a humidifier to pump cocktail vapors into the air, so alcoholic refreshments are inhaled, not drunk.’
SBS, 12 August 2015
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Everyday usage
He ate all the cheese, all the bread, and afterwards he drank water like a fish.
Tomorrow night we can go to the bar and drink like fish !
c) to drink for no reason
Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.
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