debacchation

debacchation

English

Etymology

Latin debacchatio.

Noun

debacchation (usually uncountable, plural debacchations)

1. (archaic) wild raving or debauchery, as if drunk.
   • 1632, William Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, Part I, page 538, Act VI:

     What confidence can such have of the suffrage of the saints, who defile their holiday with most foolish vanities, most impure pollutions, most wicked debacchations, and sacrilegious execrations.

   • 1820, POLWHELE, The enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists considered by Bishop Lavington, page 249:

     In that convulsive, nervous disorder, called hysterics, the patients are affected with divers strange, inconsistent and contrary symptoms; […] are weak, sad, fearful, and suspicious ; grow stiff and immovable, and again flexible ; then falling into a fit of rage, quarrelling, and debacchation ; so strong as scarce to be held by three or four persons

   • 1920, Princeton Alumni Weekly, princeton alumni weekly, page 116

     Among those whose presence lent either a tone of dignity or debacchation to the far-famed occasion were: Beekman, Bixler, Boyd, Carver, Caemr, Collins […]