Christmas drinker

plural Christmas drinkers

1. Someone who only drinks alcohol very occasionally:
   1. IrelandUKA near-teetotaller; someone who drinks very small quantities of alcohol.

      He’s mainly a Christmas drinker. He does it maybe half a dozen times a year.

      2023 January 19, Andy Bull, “‘If you could walk straight you carried on’: why 55 amateurs are launching legal action against rugby authorities”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2023

      2 more examples

      Even though she was just a Christmas drinker, a birthday drinker, a genteel port-and-lemonade drinker, she gave up alcohol altogether after the accident.

      1991, Robert Drewe, The Bay of Contented Men

      A drinks table, but our girl was no drinker. A couple of thimbles had been taken out of the whisky, the gin and the sherry. She was what I'd call a Christmas drinker. I'm not. So I poured myself a whisky.

      1999, Alan Wall, Richard Dadd in Bedlam, and Other Stories, Harvill Secker

   2. IrelandUKSomeone who binges at Christmas, but rarely or never visits pubs at other times of year.

      “Ninety-eight per cent of those who have contacted me have got the joke,” he said. “The other 2 per cent are Christmas drinkers.”

      2014 December 18, Patrick Kidd, “The pub guide for Christmas drinkers”, in The Times, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2026