Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Orgy"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Orgy \Or"gy\, n.; pl. {Orgies}.
A frantic revel; drunken revelry. See {Orgies}
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Orgies \Or"gies\, n. pl.; sing. {Orgy}.
Note: [The singular is rarely used.] [F. orgie, orgies, L.
orgia, pl., Gr. ?; akin to ? work. See {Organ}, and
{Work}.]
1. A sacrifice accompanied by certain ceremonies in honor of
some pagan deity; especially, the ceremonies observed by
the Greeks and Romans in the worship of Dionysus, or
Bacchus, which were characterized by wild and dissolute
revelry.
As when, with crowned cups, unto the Elian god,
Those priests high orgies held. --Drayton.
2. Drunken revelry; a carouse. --B. Jonson. Tennyson.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
orgy
n 1: any act of immoderate indulgence
2: secret rite in the cults of ancient Greek or Roman deities
involving singing and dancing and drinking and sexual
activity
3: a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and
promiscuity [syn: {debauch}, {debauchery}, {saturnalia}, {riot},
{bacchanal}, {bacchanalia}, {drunken revelry}]
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