vinous

comparative more vinous · superlative most vinous

1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of wine.

   1 more example

   The man who firſt tranſplanted the grape of Burgundy to the Cape of Good Hope (obſerve he was a Dutchman) never dreamt of drinking the ſame wine at the Cape, that the ſame grape produced upon the French mountains—he was too phlegmatic for that—but undoubtedly he expected to drink ſome ſort of vinous liquor; […]

   1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “Preface in the Desobligeant”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume I, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, pages 29–30

   Synonyms: winelike

   1. Involving the use of wine.

      The bride, in passing down stairs, dressed for her journey, found Tom waiting for her—flushed, either with his feelings, or the vinous part of the breakfast.

      1854, Charles Dickens, “Husband and Wife”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, 1st book (Sowing), pages 127–128

      Synonyms: winelike, vinaceous

   2. Having the colour of red wine.

      Near-synonyms: winelike, wine-dark, wine-blue

      2 more examples

      […] François' quick eye detected the presence of some very small birds moving among the blossoms. They were at once pronounced to be humming-birds, and of that species known as the "ruby-throats" (Trochilus rolubris), so called, because a flake of a beautiful vinous colour under the throat of the males exhibits, in the sun, all the glancing glories of the ruby.

      1853, [Thomas] Mayne Reid, “The Shrike and the Humming-birds”, in The Young Voyageurs, or The Boy Hunters in the North, London: George Routledge and Sons, Limited; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton and Co., →OCLC, page 268

      Day was breaking, and the sheets of talc in the walls were filled with a vinous colour.

      1904, Gustave Flaubert, “Tanith”, in Salammbô: A Romance of Ancient Carthage […], volume III, Chicago, Ill.: Simon P. Magee, →OCLC, page 99

      Synonyms: winelike, vinaceous, winelike, wine-dark, wine-blue

2. Tending to drink wine excessively.

   Curiosity induced him to ask the wild-eyed vinous old man if he knew the lady.

   1883, Fun, London: Published for the proprietors, →OCLC, page 168, column 1

   4 more examples

   Yet fat and vinous old Jack Falstaff, whose portraiture is the happiest hit in all the varied range of English comedy, must be sought for in other scenes.

   1869, William Francis Collier, “William Shakspere”, in A History of English Literature, in a Series of Biographical Sketches, London; Edinburgh, New York, N.Y.: T[homas] Nelson and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 146

   Old Simon the Soaker now keeps a rare store / Of Malmsey and Malvoisie / In tub-fuls of hundreds of litres or more, / For a vinous old soul is he—e, / A porous old so—ul is he; […]

   1898 July 2, “The New Dipsomania”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume CXIV, London: Published at the office, 85, Fleet Street, →OCLC, stanza I, page 309

   It is one of the most trying things about this life, this necessity of laughing uproariously when vinous old men say things that are dirty but not funny; else one is written down as a prig.

   1899 August 25, Raymond Asquith, “Letter to H. T. Baker”, in John Jolliffe, editor, Raymond Asquith: Life and Letters, London: Collins, published 1980, →ISBN

   She was found wounded and amnesic by a vinous old farmer who, charitable and eccentric (or just radiantly bonkers), nursed her back to health in some ramshackle barn or outbuilding of his after the local Gendarmerie had investigated, photographed, swept up and hosed down the crash scene.

   2016, Christopher Chase Walker, The Visitor, Winchester, Hampshire: Cosmic Egg Books, →ISBN

3. Affected by the drinking of wine.

   Gripped by a vinous pentecost, I launched into speech: […]

   1928, Robert Byron, “Society”, in The Station: Athos: Treasures and Men, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC, page 133

   5 more examples

   The vinous Greek to whom he had address'd / His question, much too merry to divine / The questioner, fill'd up a glass of wine, […]

   1821 August 8, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, Cantos III, IV, and V, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto III, stanza XLII, page 24

   "Come, come," said James, putting his hand to his nose and winking at his cousin with a pair of vinous eyes, "no jokes, old boy; no trying it on on me.[…]"

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “James Crawley’s Pipe is Put Out”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 305

   Once she had been kissed by a man in wine (the memory recalled Lady Tynewood and the parties she gave) and she had never forgotten the hated smell of that vinous breath.

   1927, Edgar Wallace, “The Honeymoon”, in The Man Who Was Nobody, London: Ward, Lock & Co., →OCLC; republished Looe, Cornwall: House of Stratus, 2001, →ISBN, page 110

   In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs. Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking vinous bliss; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter IV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), pages 40–41

   [S]he threw up her hands, sank into a chair and went off into a deep vinous sleep.

   1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 3, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, page 51

   Synonyms: winy