A person who drinks alcohol excessively or frequently; an alcoholic or heavy drinker. In British slang, it can also refer to a pub or bar.
From 'booze' (Middle Dutch 'busen' meaning 'to drink excessively') with the agentive suffix '-er'. 'Booze' entered English in the 14th century originally meaning simply 'to drink', but gradually acquired connotations of excessive drinking. The '-er' suffix creates the noun form referring to the person who performs the action.
The word 'booze' was popularized in America by E.S. Booz, a 19th-century distiller who sold whiskey in distinctive bottle shapes, though the word predates his business by centuries. This created a folk etymology that the word came from his name, but it's actually the reverse - his surname coincidentally matched the existing slang term.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.