wino

[wahy-noh]

noun

Informal: Disparaging and Offensive.

plural

winos 

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

L.A., he concluded, had a problem with “winos — or, more politely, homeless men.”

From Los Angeles Times

Going back to the 1800s, the city keeps “tramps,” “hobos,” “vagrants” and “winos” off the streets by locking them up in jail or sending them to work at the county “poor farm.”

From Los Angeles Times

Furthermore, most who drank did so occasionally, while hardcore winos would switch to dangerous moonshine.

From Salon

It’s delightfully lacking in nuance, portraying every last French person as a mime or a beret-wearing wino speaking broken, heavily accented French.

From Los Angeles Times

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