Definition of "toper" [to•per]

• A chronic drinker. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Nor could Polly's later explanation that the last word was "happy," and not "drunk," reconcile him; for she had been compelled to admit that the old king was a toper, and that he was always in his cups when he struck up the chant."
• "Classic cocktail bars are to the toper what the new crop of “classic” baseball stadiums are to the sports fan — places where we can cheer a return to our roots."
• "The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Bequest of Benjamin Altman 'Young Man and Woman in an Inn ("Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart")' (1623) The selection spans most of Hals's career, beginning with the bawdy "Merrymakers at Shrovetide" (c. 1616-17), a densely packed image of revelers that pits a red-faced toper against a young blonde whose flushed cheeks accord nicely with her coral jewelry and elegant, lace-trimmed red dress."