dipsomania

Noun

dipsomania (countable and uncountable, plural dipsomanias)

1. Addiction to alcohol.
2. Specifically periodic alcoholism, characterized by bouts of heavy drinking rather than continuous indulgence in alcohol.
3. (broadly) A strong craving for something.
   • A most ingenuous youth was Master Snape, round-eyed, round-cheeked, with an ever ready smooth and round unvarnished tale—a youth afflicted with a dipsomania for information.1883 November 10, Basil [pseudonym; Richard Ashe King], “A Drawn Game”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, volume XXXII, number 780, page 507, column 1
   • "You must regard my passion for painting," he began once more, "as a sort of dipsomania—I really can't help myself."1919 March 31, W[ilhelm] N[ero] P[ilate] Barbellion [pseudonym; Bruce Frederick Cummings], “[1914] November 20”, in The Journal of a Disappointed Man, London: Chatto & Windus, published 27 April 1920...