wino

[ wahy-noh ]

noun

, Informal: Disparaging and Offensive.

, plural win·os.

1. an indiscriminate drinker of wine or other readily available alcoholic beverages who is frequently intoxicated, especially a derelict who lives on the streets.

wino

/ ˈwaɪnəʊ /

noun

1. informal.
   a person who habitually drinks wine as a means of getting drunk

Word History and Origins

Origin of wino¹

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20; wine + -o

Example Sentences

Pope’s club set finds him playing “preacher, white dude, ghetto dude, angry sister, the neighborhood wino, as if he were a transmitter hooked up to the private thoughts of a cramped subway car.”

From Los Angeles Times

Or the statistics professor who marveled at my stories of my favorite uncle — a wino with sophisticated strategies of betting on Greyhound races — and helped me use formal models to explain his behavior.

From Washington Post

"People think you're a wino. It just makes you feel really awful, like, what's the point? It can be really depressing. Sometimes I think about not going out of the door."

From BBC

So one night, Poe found himself venturing past panhandling winos into a club so fetid and grimy his nerves jumped on end.

From New York Times

After their relationship ended, the tattoo was changed to read “wino for ever”, the court heard.

From The Guardian