tie one on en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From earlier tie a bun on, where bun means “bender, drunken spree” and probably comes from bung. First attested in the 1940s.
Meanings
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(colloquial, dated, idiomatic) To drink alcohol excessively, to the point of being drunk
Haiti […] was distressed, tropical, ramshackle, overcrowded, poor and on the brink of civil war. […] Its ornate hotels were in a state of decay, yet there was enough alcohol available for a guest to tie one on.
2004 October 17, Paul Theroux, “Books: Damned Old Graham Greene”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Sep 2010:"Let's tie one on!" said Peachy gaily. "Come on, Eve!" Eve said she couldn't drink a thing. "Besides, it's fattening!"
1940, Hearst's International combined with Cosmopolitan, volume 109, page 77:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ties one on | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| tying one on | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| tied one on | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| tied one on | Tense=Past | lexicographic |