a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
<noun.act> [ adj ]
used of riotously drunken merrymaking
<adj.all> a night of bacchanalian revelry carousing bands of drunken soldiers orgiastic festivity
Bacchanal \Bac"cha*nal\, a. [L. Bacchanalis. See {Bacchanalia}.] 1. Relating to Bacchus or his festival.
2. Engaged in drunken revels; drunken and riotous or noisy.
Bacchanal \Bac"cha*nal\ (b[a^]k"k[.a]*nal), n. 1. A devotee of Bacchus; one who indulges in drunken revels; one who is noisy and riotous when intoxicated; a carouser. ``Tipsy bacchanals.'' --Shak.
2. pl. The festival of Bacchus; the bacchanalia.
3. Drunken revelry; an orgy.
4. A song or a dance in honor of Bacchus. ※ ||
Psychologically you have to prepare yourself to hurt somebody." EDITOR'S NOTE _ It's as endemic to New Orleans as the Mardi Gras bacchanal and the strip joints on Bourbon Street.