drive to drink
drive (one) to drink
To be so unpleasant as to impel one to drink alcohol to forget about it. The stress of this job will drive me to drink.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
drive someone to drink
Fig. [for someone or something] to cause someone to turn to alcohol as an escape from frustration. Being a Cubs fan is enough to drive you to drink. She was driven to drink by the problems she had with her teenage son.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
drive to drink
see under drive crazy.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
drive (someone) to drink, to
To annoy someone to distraction. A twentieth-century Americanism, this expression implies that alcohol-induced oblivion is the only form of escape from the pest in question. W. C. Fields turned it around in his quip, “I was in love with a beautiful blonde once—she drove me to drink—’tis the one thing I’m indebted to her for” (quoted in Whole Grains, by A. Spiegelman and B. Schneider). See also drive up the wall.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer