spreen.
/spriː/, U.S. /spri/ Chiefly colloquial.
1. in extended use.1849 J. W. Carlyle New Lett. (1903) II. 4 I have taken a spree of Novel reading, too.1955 Times 29 Aug. 11/1 What has been described as a profit boom and a dividend spree is being used to foster the idea that wage claims can be advanced one after the other without respite.1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 21 A six-hitting spree by Jim Pressdee who..made 115.1983 Times 22 Feb. 17/2 (heading) Kellock joins own shares buying spree.
a. A lively or boisterous frolic; an occasion or spell of somewhat disorderly or noisy enjoyment (frequently accompanied by drinking). Also transferred and as shopping spree n. at shopping n.2 Compounds 1a, spending spending spree at spending n.1 7, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > [noun] > noisy or riotous
revela1375
riotc1440
revel-rout1587
wassail1603
randan1640
rant1650
high-go1774
splore?a1786
gilravagea1796
spree1804
lark1811
spray1813
shindy1821
randy1825
randy-dandy1835
batter1839
flare-up1844
barney1850
jamboree1868
tear1869
whoop-up1876
beano1888
razzle1892
razzle-dazzle1893
bash1901
1804 W. Tarras Poems 73 I'm blythe to see a rantin spree.
1810 Sporting Mag. 35 69 Wednesday —— wanted a spree.
1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands II. v. 145 A stanch sportsman, always foremost in a spree of this kind.
1858 B. Taylor Northern Trav. iv. 34 The little public square..was crowded with people, many of whom had already commenced their Christmas sprees.
1878 W. Besant & J. Rice By Celia's Arbour II. iii. 39 We went ashore, the men had a spree, and the officers made themselves agreeable to the young ladies.
b. spec. A more or less prolonged bout or spell of drinking; a drunken carousal.Not always clearly separable from 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [noun]
overdrinkeOE
drinkingc1200
excessc1386
bibbinga1400
bollingc1540
boozingc1540
bousingc1540
swillingc1563
tippling1567
carousing1582
swinking1590
bezzling1598
swill1602
swink1611
overdrinking1616
popination1623
sottishness1648
fuddling1665
toping1668
bibbership1670
abuse1732
dram-drinking1772
dramminga1790
potation1808
spree1811
muzzling1828
bibbery1831
Bacchanalianism1855
Bacchanalism1858
smiling1858
bibulation1882
tanking1891
reeler1950
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [noun] > drinking-bout
cups1406
drinking?1518
banquet1535
Bacchanal1536
pot-revel1577
compotation1593
rouse1604
Bacchanalia1633
potmealc1639
bout1670
drinking-bout1673
carouse1690
carousal1765
drunk1779
bouse1786
toot1790
set-to1808
spree1811
fuddlea1813
screed1815
bust1834
lush1841
bender1846
bat1848
buster1848
burst1849
soak1851
binge1854
bumming1860
bust-out1861
bum1863
booze1864
drink1865
ran-tan1866
cupping1868
crawl1877
hellbender1877
break-away1885
periodical1886
jag1894
booze-up1897
slopping-up1899
souse1903
pub crawl1915
blind1917
beer-up1919
periodic1920
scoot1924
brannigan1927
rumba1934
boozeroo1943
sesh1943
session1943
piss-up1950
pink-eye1958
binge drinking1964
1811 Lexicon Balatronicum Spree,..a drinking bout.
1854 Poultry Chron. 2 381 The cock was half seas over, or in other words, drunk, and having a regular spree.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 132 A strong man gets over it..till the time of the next spree comes round.
c. In the phrases on a spree, on (also upon) the spree.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adverb] > on a drinking bout
on (also upon) the spree1847
on a spree1847
on the booze1850
on the scoop1871
on the beer1887
on the bash1901
on a whizzer1910
on the piss1929
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > merrymaking or conviviality > [adverb] > noisy or riotous
roistingly1571
on (also upon) the randan1652
roisteringly1659
tory-rory1665
on (also upon) the spree1847
on a spree1847
on (or upon) the loose1849
on the fly1851
on the (also a) randy1857
on the tiles1887
(a)
(b)1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 446/2 We were too fond of what was called getting on the spree.1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 99 ‘Going on the spree,’ starting out with intent to have a frolic.1892 R. L. Stevenson Across Plains iii. 113 The cheap young gentleman upon the spree.1847 Illustr. London News 10 July 27/3 The balloon looked something like the dome of St. Paul's out on a spree.
1865 J. G. Holland Plain Talks v. 168 It is further complained that operatives drink and go on sprees.
1880 T. E. Webb tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust ii. vi. 144 She's out on a spree!
2. Rough amusement, merrymaking, or sport; prolonged drinking or carousing; indulgence or participation in this.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > merrymaking or conviviality > [noun] > noisy or riotous
riotingc1390
revelling1395
revelc1400
revelryc1410
revel-rout?1499
jetting1509
deray?a1513
company keeping1529
banqueting1535
roistingc1560
wassailinga1586
riotise1590
roister-doisterdom1592
reels1603
roaring1617
ranting1633
rattle1688
high jinks1699
roistering1805
spree1808
wassailry1814
revelment1822
Tom and Jerryism1822
spreeing1845
to be on the roister1860
riotousness1882
whoopee1928
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Spree, innocent merriment.
1828 Sporting Mag. 23 34 I will give you a frequent line on the spree of the West.
1899 F. T. Bullen Log of Sea-waif 291 The captain..did not return for several days, being supposed..to have entered upon a steady course of spree.
Derivatives
spree v. (intransitive) to have or take part in a spree; also with it and transitive, to spend (money) recklessly.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > expenditure > waste of money or extravagance > spend extravagantly [verb (transitive)]
to piss (money, an opportunity, etc.) against the wall1540
lavish1542
melt1607
to piss away1628
unbowel1647
tap1712
sport1785
waster1821
blue1846
spree1859
to frivol away1866
blow1874
bust1878
skittle1883
to blow in1886
burst1892
bang1897
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > merrymaking or conviviality > make merry [verb (intransitive)] > noisy or riotous
revelc1390
ragea1400
roara1450
jet?1518
tirl on the berry?1520
roist1563
roist1574
revel1580
domineer1592
ranta1616
roister1663
scour1673
tory-rory1685
scheme1738
to run the rig1750
gilravagea1760
splore?a1799
spree1859
to go on the (or a) bend1863
to flare up1869
to whoop it up1873
to paint the town (red)1882
razzle1908
to make whoopee1920
boogie1929
to beat it up1933
ball1946
rave1961
1859 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) 438 To spree it, to get intoxicated.
1864 J. Ramsbottom Phases of Distress 38 While aw'd brass, aw'r sure to spree.
1874 Elmslie in Brit. Weekly (1911) 2 Nov. 138/3 We generally ‘spree together’, whenever we can find time.
1897 ‘M. Twain’ Following Equator i. 33 It was the remittance-man's custom to..spree away the rest of his money in a single night.
1907 G. B. Shaw Let. 27 July (1972) II. 703 The guarantee fund shall not be drawn upon for current expenses at the Savoy (Barker would spree it on a single scene in Peer Gynt).
ˈspreeing n. indulgence or participation in a spree or sprees; also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > merrymaking or conviviality > [noun] > noisy or riotous
riotingc1390
revelling1395
revelc1400
revelryc1410
revel-rout?1499
jetting1509
deray?a1513
company keeping1529
banqueting1535
roistingc1560
wassailinga1586
riotise1590
roister-doisterdom1592
reels1603
roaring1617
ranting1633
rattle1688
high jinks1699
roistering1805
spree1808
wassailry1814
revelment1822
Tom and Jerryism1822
spreeing1845
to be on the roister1860
riotousness1882
whoopee1928
1845 in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) iv. 137 They both had been spreeing it the evening before with some members of Congress.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. xvii. 211 I've longed for to be a man to go spreeing, even if it were only a tramp to some new place in search o' work.
1860 Yale Literary Mag. 25 398 Another great sham connected with our social life is that of spreeing or ‘bumming’.
1885 ‘M. Twain’ Let. 11 Sept. (1917) II. 457 The drunkenness (and sometimes pretty reckless spreeing) ceased before he came East.
1890 A. C. Gunter Miss Nobody x Paying their spreeing expenses when occasion offered.
1890 A. C. Gunter Miss Nobody xvii After the wicked has been spreeing, gaming, and tooting all night.
1928 G. B. Shaw Intell. Woman's Guide Socialism lxiv. 296 They destroy the sense of security which induces the possessors of spare money to invest it instead of spreeing it.
ˈspreeish adj. given to indulgence in sprees; slightly intoxicated; also absol.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > a merrymaking or convivial occasion > merrymaking or conviviality > [adjective] > noisy or riotous
revelous1546
roisterly1555
roisting1567
roisterous1575
roister-doistering1593
roister-doisterly1593
roisteringa1679
revelling1769
revelrous1820
spreeish1825
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > partially drunk
merrya1382
semi-bousyc1460
pipe merry1542
totty1570
tipsy1577
martin-drunk1592
pleasant1596
mellow1611
tip-merry1612
flustered1615
lusticka1616
well to live1619
jolly1652
happy1662
hazy1673
top-heavy1687
hearty1695
half-seas-over1699
oiled1701
mellowish1703
half channelled over1709
drunkish1710
half-and-half1718
touched1722
uppisha1726
tosie1727
bosky1730
funny1751
fairish1756
cherry-merry1769
in suds1770
muddy1776
glorious1790
groggified1796
well-corned1800
fresh1804
to be mops and brooms1814
foggy1816
how-come-ye-so1816
screwy1820
off the nail1821
on (also, esp. in early use, upon) the go1821
swipey1821
muggy1822
rosy1823
snuffy1823
spreeish1825
elevated1827
up a stump1829
half-cockedc1830
tightish1830
tipsified1830
half shaved1834
screwed1837
half-shot1838
squizzed1845
drinky1846
a sheet in the wind1862
tight1868
toppy1885
tiddly1905
oiled-up1918
bonkers1943
sloshed1946
tiddled1956
hickey-
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 382 The spreeish or the sprightly.
1888 Times (Weekly ed.) 16 Nov. 3/4 [She was] not drunk, but..a little spreeish.
Draft additions December 2002
spree killer n. originally U.S. a person who kills in a frenzied, random, apparently unpremeditated manner with no obvious motive; spec. one who kills a number of people at one particular time and location in this manner; cf. serial killer n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > man-killer or homicide > [noun] > murderer or assassin > types of
assassin1340
Old Man of the Mountain1579
fedai1723
thug1810
nasty man1863
Jack the Ripper1888
ripper1909
trunk murderer1925
sex killer1935
mass-murderer1943
serial murderer1947
psycho-killer1949
serial killer1967
spree killer1983
1983 People 3 Oct. 92/2 They met in 1972 while filming Badlands—he designed the sets, she played a spree-killer's sweetheart.
1996 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 19 Sept. 18 What Sir Jerry conveniently seems to forget is that the last three spree killers in Britain..all held legal gun licences.
1997 Time 28 July 32/1 Some experts on murder say the term serial killer, which usually describes someone who returns to a normal routine between bursts of rage, doesn't quite fit [him]. They've been rolling out ‘spree killer’. It's more appropriate for somebody on a full-time lethal tear.
Draft additions December 2002
spree killing n. originally U.S. an instance of random, multiple murder, usually confined to one time and location, as carried out by a spree killer.
ΚΠ
1989 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times 16 Apr. a12/1 Mass murder and spree killings are more numerous today than 30 years ago, and when they occur they are widely reported and have great emotional impact.
1993 Courier-Jrnl. (Indiana) (Nexis) 19 Oct. a1 Kohl termed the shooting a ‘spree’ killing—‘walking in, going to one location, killing several people and leaving’.
1996 Independent 14 Mar. 3/8 Mass killings like Dunblane, he said had been split in recent years into three broad groups: mass murders, spree killings, and serial killings.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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