alky
alky Lexical Profile
alky Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A person who suffers from alcoholism or habitually drinks alcohol to excess.
"The novel's protagonist is a recovering alky trying to rebuild his estranged family relationships."
North American Alcohol or intoxicating liquor, especially cheap or illicitly distilled spirits.
"During Prohibition, bootleggers smuggled barrels of cheap alky into underground speakeasies."
North American Methanol or alcohol-based fuel used in high-performance racing engines.
"The dragster's crew chief switched the engine from standard racing gasoline to pure alky for extra horsepower."
Word Nuance & Usage
Primarily used in informal North American slang, "alky" is often considered derogatory when referring to a person suffering from alcohol addiction, though it is sometimes used self-referentially in recovery communities.
• Rhymes for alky
Word Origin & Etymology
Originated in mid-19th-century American slang as a clipped form of "alcohol" or "alcoholic" combined with the colloquial suffix "-y".