Definition of "dipsomania" [dip•so•ma•ni•a]

• An insatiable craving for alcoholic beverages. (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.

• "Indeed, the bad name that proverbially hangs the dog has already been given to the one under consideration, for bibliomania is older in the technology of this kind of nosology than dipsomania, which is now understood to be an almost established ground for seclusion, and deprivation of the management of one's own affairs."
• "This condition occasionally proved to be the stage of transition into yet another modification of the disease -- that known as dipsomania, the phase exhibited by Bill Bates and the Semi-drunk."
• "A similar propensity for the use of liquor is termed dipsomania; so an uncontrollable disposition to smoke the pipe may be termed capnizomania."