drink the constable
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
See MOROCCO. To overrun or outrun the constable. To get into debt; to spend more than one's income; to talk about what you do not understand.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “drink the constable” mean?
See MOROCCO. To overrun or outrun the constable. To get into debt; to spend more than one's income; to talk about what you do not understand.
Is “drink the constable” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.