prop up the bar

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To drink at a bar, typically for an extended period

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Uống rượu tại quán bar trong một khoảng thời gian dài

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: supporting a bar physically
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Duncan had left Myeloski propping up the bar, drinking his customary vodka and Budweiser chaser.
Dennis and the others were propping up the bar, Karen was supposedly selecting duty - free perfume.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “prop up the bar” mean?

To drink at a bar, typically for an extended period Literally: supporting a bar physically

Is “prop up the bar” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.