Eat, drink and be merry

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Grammarist

Eat, drink and be merry is a proverb that is very old. We will examine the meaning of the expression eat, drink and be merry, where it came, from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Eat, drink and be merry is a proverb that promotes enjoying life in the moment. Often, the expression eat, drink and be merry is said at a party or other festive gathering. Eat, drink and be merry is the first part of a longer proverb: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die. This rendition of the proverb adds the admonition that all we have is today, we do not know what tomorrow will bring. Some use this as an excuse to partake in excess and gluttony. The proverb eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die, is a confabulation of two quotations from the Bible. In the Old Testament in Ecclesiastes 8:15 in the King James translation of the Bible we find: “Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry…” In Corinthians 15:32 we find: “…let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.”

Examples

The actor instead plans to “eat drink and be merry” with Emmy, which he’ll be taking to his mom in her nursing home. (Entertainment Tonight)

Ten Russians found her tent at 11pm insisting she should ‘eat, drink and be merry with them, excusing their intrusion with ‘but we have driven to see you’. (The Daily Mail)

With his retirement set, the farmer told himself, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (The Charleston Post and Courier)