- hit the bottle
- to drink intoxicants to excessOf a single debauch or sustained drunkenness. Also as hit the hooch or hit it:I just wondered... whether he'd planned to use the rest of the day to hit the bottle. (Gaarder, 1996)... hitting the hooch like you I rds been. (Chandler, 1943)... poor old Carlisle, who between you and me had been hitting it a bit of late. (Private Eye, September 1981)
How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. R. W. Holder. 2014.