Christmas drinker

Noun

Christmas drinker (plural Christmas drinkers)

1. (Ireland, UK) A near-teetotaller; someone who drinks very small quantities of alcohol.
   • 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. (Ireland, UK) Someone 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