carouse

Carouse is a verb meaning to participate in a lively, often drunken, celebration with others. It implies drinking heavily and engaging in noisy merrymaking, typically over a period of time. Phrasings such as “they caroused all night” convey a sense of exuberant revelry, sometimes with an undertone of excess.

The related noun carousal denotes a boisterous drinking party or merrymaking. This spelling often appears in older texts, and is sometimes confused with carousel, the amusement ride, which is etymologically unrelated. The word carouse entered English in the early modern period and is conceptually linked to revelry and social revel.

In modern usage, carouse can carry neutral, celebratory, or critical connotations depending on context. It is more common in narrative or descriptive writing than in formal prose, and it frequently appears in discussions of social behavior, historical accounts of revelry, or literary scenes depicting nocturnal gatherings. Synonyms include revel, roister, celebrate, and drink excessively; antonyms would emphasize restraint or sobriety.

Overall, carouse describes a social act of collective revelry centered on drinking and festivity, with a legacy in both everyday language and literary depiction of lively, sometimes unruly, merrymaking.