drink like a fish

Idioms  

1. Consume large amounts of alcoholic beverages, as in He always drinks like a fish at holiday dinners. The expression, first recorded in the mid-1600s, alludes to the way fish obtain oxygen, which causes them to be open-mouthed and appear to be constantly drinking.

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Example Sentences

To literally drink like a fish — submerged in water.

From Washington Post

"To drink like a fish" is a shameful and utterly unfounded aspersion upon a blameless creature of most correct habits and model deportment.

From Preventable Diseases by Hutchinson, Woods

The saying "to drink like a fish" is a slander upon an innocent creature; for what it is really doing is breathing, not drinking.

From A Handbook of Health by Hutchinson, Woods

"I'm a seatotaller myself," he observed; "I don't drink like a fish, nor go in for cups."

From The Rainbow Book Tales of Fun & Fancy by Spielmann, Mabel Henriette

If he drinks water out-of-doors, he may drink like a fish at home.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 by Various