Crook one's elbow is a US slang idiom meaning to drink alcohol — specifically to lift a glass to one's lips, the gesture of drinking. The phrase is a metonym: the physical act of bending the elbow to bring a drink to the mouth represents the act of drinking itself. It carries a jocular, slightly coy register — a polite circumlocution for drinking that implies the activity is habitual. Used in informal speech and writing to suggest someone drinks regularly.
He was known to crook his elbow a little too freely on a Friday night, but nobody at the office mentioned it.
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(US, slang) To consume alcoholic drink.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.