imbiber

English

Etymology

From imbibe +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

imbiber (plural imbibers)

1. One who imbibes, who drinks, especially alcoholic beverages.

   Synonym: drinker

   • 1876, John Ruskin, “Letter LX”, in Fors Clavigera. Letters to the Workmen and Labourers of Great Britain, volume V, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, page 341:

     […] and yet, curiously enough, I am certain he will feel my question, “Where does the drinker get the means for his drinking?” more relevant in the case of the imbibers of port than in that of the imbibers of champagne.

   • 2023 May 28, Alice Lascelles, quoting Nick Bodkins, “What's the buzz?”, in FT Weekend, HTSI, page 61:

     “Demand is primarily coming from a mix of Gen Z consumers and imbibers who are looking for the ‘feel’ without the feel tomorrow,” says CEO Nick Bodkins. “But fully abstaining customers are a very small subset of our consumer base.”

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin imbibere. Doublet of emboire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.bi.be/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

imbiber

1. (transitive) to soak, saturate

Conjugation

Conjugation of imbiber (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	imbiber
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	imbibant /ɛ̃.bi.bɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		imbibé /ɛ̃.bi.be/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	imbibe /ɛ̃.bib/	imbibes /ɛ̃.bib/	imbibe /ɛ̃.bib/	imbibons /ɛ̃.bi.bɔ̃/	imbibez /ɛ̃.bi.be/	imbibent /ɛ̃.bib/
	imperfect	imbibais /ɛ̃.bi.bɛ/	imbibais /ɛ̃.bi.bɛ/	imbibait /ɛ̃.bi.bɛ/	imbibions /ɛ̃.bi.bjɔ̃/	imbibiez /ɛ̃.bi.bje/	imbibaient /ɛ̃.bi.bɛ/
	past historic2	imbibai /ɛ̃.bi.be/	imbibas /ɛ̃.bi.ba/	imbiba /ɛ̃.bi.ba/	imbibâmes /ɛ̃.bi.bam/	imbibâtes /ɛ̃.bi.bat/	imbibèrent /ɛ̃.bi.bɛʁ/
	future	imbiberai /ɛ̃.bi.bʁe/	imbiberas /ɛ̃.bi.bʁa/	imbibera /ɛ̃.bi.bʁa/	imbiberons /ɛ̃.bi.bʁɔ̃/	imbiberez /ɛ̃.bi.bʁe/	imbiberont /ɛ̃.bi.bʁɔ̃/
	conditional	imbiberais /ɛ̃.bi.bʁɛ/	imbiberais /ɛ̃.bi.bʁɛ/	imbiberait /ɛ̃.bi.bʁɛ/	imbiberions /ɛ̃.bi.bə.ʁjɔ̃/	imbiberiez /ɛ̃.bi.bə.ʁje/	imbiberaient /ɛ̃.bi.bʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	imbibe /ɛ̃.bib/	imbibes /ɛ̃.bib/	imbibe /ɛ̃.bib/	imbibions /ɛ̃.bi.bjɔ̃/	imbibiez /ɛ̃.bi.bje/	imbibent /ɛ̃.bib/
	imperfect2	imbibasse /ɛ̃.bi.bas/	imbibasses /ɛ̃.bi.bas/	imbibât /ɛ̃.bi.ba/	imbibassions /ɛ̃.bi.ba.sjɔ̃/	imbibassiez /ɛ̃.bi.ba.sje/	imbibassent /ɛ̃.bi.bas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	imbibe /ɛ̃.bib/	—	imbibons /ɛ̃.bi.bɔ̃/	imbibez /ɛ̃.bi.be/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “imbiber”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.