podpít

Podpít is a Czech verb formed with the prefix pod- and the root pít (to drink). In standard usage it is encountered infrequently and carries a small number of senses that are distinguished by context and nuance.

The primary sense of podpít is to provide someone with a drink, i.e., to offer or serve a beverage. This is the most straightforward, social-use meaning and can be found in older or more formal texts as well as colloquial speech.

A second sense, more colloquial and seldom used in careful prose, is to spike or adulterate a person’s drink with alcohol or other substances. This sense is emphatic in informal or crime-report language and is generally considered unethical or illegal.

A less common, figurative sense exists in which podpít denotes supplying support or resources to enable a person or project to continue. In practice, however, this meaning is rare and speakers typically prefer related verbs such as podpírat or podporovat for “to support” in a larger, non-beverage sense.

Etymology and related forms: podpít is formed from pít with the prefix pod-, which in various Czech constructions can convey notions of accompaniment, enabling action, or partial involvement. The word is related in meaning to other prefixed forms built on pít, though its usage remains limited and often context-specific.

Usage notes: Because the senses can overlap with other verbs in the pít-příbuzný family, context is important for disambiguation. The “provide a drink” sense is the most neutral; the “spike a drink” sense is pejorative and its appearance in a sentence typically signals a problematic or criminal context.