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Consider this hypothetical scenario:

I am holding a glass of juice, and as bet, I am supposed to drink it in one go.

I don't think "in one go" is a idiomatic phrase, can somebody recommend a similar phrase?

DialFrost
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Max
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  • The expression down in one (mentioned in comments on the duplicate question) is described by Cambridge as 'UK informal'. – Kate Bunting May 19 '22 at 09:26
  • to gulp it down is another way of saying this. – Ronald Sole May 19 '22 at 09:32
  • @RonaldSole - I would understand gulp as meaning 'swallow in big mouthfuls', not necessarily 'all in one go'. – Kate Bunting May 19 '22 at 09:43
  • @KateBunting I should not argue, although I might plead for a little latitude when small amounts and large gulps are concerned. (I once witnessed a fellow lift a litre bottle of brandy to his lips and pour the entire contents down his throat without pause in what might be described as an unbroken gulp!) – Ronald Sole May 19 '22 at 10:03
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    in one go is definitely an idiomatic phrase. – stangdon May 19 '22 at 11:44
  • Quite formal: to swallow [it] at one draught, less so, to knock [it] it back in one. The second is, I suspect, mainly UK. – Michael Harvey May 20 '22 at 08:20
  • @RonaldSole - doing that could easily cause death by alcohol poisoning. For a 60kg person, 300g of alcohol can kill, which is equal to about 1 litre of spirits of 40% abv. I knew a man who drank 21 pub measures of whisky (on his 21st birthday) one after the other. Soon after he collapsed and we took him to hospital. That amount of whisky was roughly equal to 525 ml. He was in a stupor for about 12 hours. – Michael Harvey May 20 '22 at 18:55
  • @MichaelHarvey As I reluctant semi-teetotaller, the last thing on my mind was to encourage such excess. I was merely trying to tease out the limits of Kate's understanding of a gulp. However, in the Western Cape of South Africa, where I spent several years, and where alcoholism is rife among some communities, it was not unusual to see men drain a bottle of sherry - Old Brown was the preferred tipple - in a single...well...gulp! – Ronald Sole May 21 '22 at 08:17

1 Answers1

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One might say "chug" or "down". So:

I am holding a glass of juice, and I am supposed to chug/down it.

DialFrost
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    CNN story: See priest's reaction when 7-year-old chugs first communion wine https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/05/05/7-year-old-chugs-wine-first-communion-moos-pkg-vpx.cnn – Michael Harvey May 20 '22 at 07:55