Dipsomania

Word of the Day for Friday, November 25, 2011

dipsomania \dip-suh-MEY-nee-uh\, noun:

An irresistible, typically periodic craving for alcoholic drink.

During his last years he'd become a regular drinking companion of Roosevelt's younger brother, Elliot, whose life was also ended by dipsomania some years later.
-- Caleb Carr, The Alienist

What exactly has Mr. Waugh in mind, one would like to know, in making the perhaps too charming young man a dipsomania? Is it no more than that, being himself an unsatisfactory Roman Catholic, Sebastian lacked the will to resist drink?
-- Martin Stannard, Evelyn Waugh: The Critical Heritage

Dipsomania literally means crazy thirst from the Greek dips (thirst) and mania (crazy).

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/