Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or given to drinking.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Potable; drinkable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to drinking.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to drinking.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin pōtātōrius, from Latin pōtātus, past participle of pōtāre, to drink, from pōtus, a drink; see pō(i)- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ultimately from pōtō ("I drink"), with -atory.

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Examples

  • It somewhat lessens in our notions the personal responsibility, or the personal potatory capability of the parson, to discover that there was an ordination in town during that rum-paged week, and that the visiting ministers probably drank the greater portion of Jerome Ripley's liquor.

    Sabbath in Puritan New England Alice Morse Earle 1881

  • I coquetted a whole minute with my napkin, before I attempted the soup, and I helped myself to the potatory food with a slow dignity that must have perfectly won the heart of the solemn waiter.

    Pelham — Volume 03 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • "And now, gentlemen," said Clifford, as soon as the revellers had provided themselves with their wonted luxuries, potatory and fumous,

    Paul Clifford — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • I coquetted a whole minute with my napkin, before I attempted the soup, and I helped myself to the potatory food with a slow dignity that must have perfectly won the heart of the solemn waiter.

    Pelham — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • These cocktails, and other artificial combinations of liquor, (of which there were at least a score, though mostly, I suspect, fantastic in their differences,) were much in favor with the younger class of customers, who, at farthest, had only reached the second stage of potatory life.

    The Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne 1834

  • "The fact of the matter is, Albert, I have devoted my unfortunate life to two arts: the military and the potatory.

    Greener Than You Think Ward Moore 1940

  • "And now, gentlemen," said Clifford, as soon as the revellers had provided themselves with their wonted luxuries, potatory and fumous, "let us hear your adventures, and rejoice our eyes with their produce.

    Paul Clifford — Volume 04 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

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