designated driver

English

Noun

designated driver (plural designated drivers)

1. A person who avoids drinking alcohol at a social engagement for the purpose of driving their companions home.

   Synonym: DD

   • 2014 March 27, Robin Marantz Henig, “Fictional Plotlines and Real Assisted Suicide”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Back in the 1980s, the Harvard School of Public Health mounted a campaign to normalize the idea of a “designated driver” to reduce drunk driving. Jay Winsten of Harvard spent weeks in Hollywood, meeting with 250 executive producers and head writers, asking them to work the concept of a designated driver into their TV scripts. Many agreed.

   • 2020 February 27, Peter Jakubowicz, “The Drunk Men I Drive Around Every Night”, in Slate Magazine‎^[2]:

     I’m his Lyft driver, or, as I have come to think of it, his designated driver on demand.

Translations

Individual not drinking for the purpose of driving their companions home

• Dutch: bob (nl)
• Finnish: juoppokuski (fi)
• French: conducteur désigné m, bob (fr) m