Plural of carousal; instances of drinking, eating, and celebrating together in a lively and often rowdy way.
From carousal, which comes from the verb carousing, ultimately from Middle High German 'gar aus' meaning 'right out' or 'completely.' The term evolved to describe festive drinking sessions where people carouse completely and without restraint.
The word 'carousal' is actually one of the rare English words that came from a German drinking-culture phrase—it's basically frozen in time from medieval taverns where people would shout 'gar aus!' to drain their cups entirely!
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