• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Expression “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry” Come From and What Does it Mean?

Where Did the Expression “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry” Come From and What Does it Mean?

April 16, 2020 by Karen Hill

Today we use “Eat, drink, and be merry” as an invitation to party, but to be merry originally meant to be content or self-satisfied.

The phrase is from a parable in the Bible that tells the tale of Epicurious, a man who worked hard all his life to accumulate goods and money and believed that he shouldn’t take time to “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

When Epicurious died he was remembered as a fool because he did not live for anything but the material.

The phrase also appears in Luke 12:19: “Soul, you have so many goods laid up for years to come; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

Related Facts

  • What Does the Expression "Until the Cows Come Home" Mean and Where Did the Phrase Come From?
  • Where does the expression "till the cows come home" come from and What does it mean?
  • Where does the expression "to come out flat footed" come from and What does it mean?
  • Where does the expression "to come out at the little end of the horn" come from and What does it mean?
  • Where does the expression "come off your perch" come from and What does it mean?
  • What does the expression "to get one's come uppance" mean and Where does it come from?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How Did the Barbeque Get its Name, What Does it Mean, and Where Did Outdoor Cooking Come From?
Next Post: How Did Candy Get its Name, Where Did it Originate, and What Does the Word Candy Mean? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2021 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy