bacchant

English

Alternative forms

• Bacchant

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin bacchantem, present active participle of bacchor (“to celebrate rites of Bacchus; to revel”), from Bacchus (“the god of wine”), from Ancient Greek Βάκχος (Bákkhos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbækənt/, /bəkant/

Noun

bacchant (plural bacchants or bacchantes)

1. A priest of Bacchus.
2. A bacchanal; a drunken reveler.

Adjective

bacchant (comparative more bacchant, superlative most bacchant)

1. fond of drunken revelry; wine-loving; reveling; carousing.

   Synonym: bacchanalian

Related terms

• bacchante

References

• “bacchant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.