Big Book Word Definitions

•April 8, 2026 • Leave a Comment

1

Doggerel – trivial or inferior verse, often irregular in rhythm and used for comic or burlesque effect

Pot – a rounded container typically used for cooking or storing; also slang for marijuana

2

Surety company – a company that provides surety bonds guaranteeing the fulfillment of contracts or obligations

Maelstrom – a powerful whirlpool or a state of violent confusion and turmoil

3

Remonstrances – formal protests, objections, or complaints made forcefully

4

Elba – a Mediterranean island off Tuscany, Italy, where Napoleon was first exiled. He returned and again became leader of France.

St. Helena. – a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean where Napoleon spent his final exile and died.

5

Bathtub gin – homemade or illicitly made gin, typically of poor quality, associated with Prohibition-era alcohol production

6

Cock sureness – (cocksureness) excessive self-confidence or arrogance

Calamity – a disastrous event or great misfortune

Sash – a decorative band of fabric worn around the waist or over the shoulder, or the frame holding glass in a window

7

Goose hung high – idiom meaning things are going well or prosperous (from “the goose hangs high”)

Delirium tremens – a severe alcohol withdrawal condition involving tremors, hallucinations, and confusion

Wet brain – slang for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a brain disorder from severe thiamine deficiency often linked to chronic alcoholism

8

Armistice day – the historical name for November 11, commemorating the 1918 armistice ending World War I (now Veterans Day in the US)

Debauch – excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures or to corrupt morally

9

Aghast – filled with horror or shock

10

Cipher – a secret code or message written in code; also a person of no importance

11

Chicanery – the use of deception or trickery, especially in legal or political matters

12

Antipathy – a strong feeling of dislike, aversion, or hostility

101

Whoopee party – lively, noisy, boisterous party or social gathering centered on drinking, merrymaking, and unrestrained revelry (1920s–1930s American slang).

Life is Not Easy

•August 8, 2025 • Leave a Comment

God intended for our lives to be difficult. I still find that a little odd   Difficult in that we face obstacles every day and are challenged to overcome them. But it’s OK that I find it odd because I don’t have to understand why God chose the way  He did. I just have to accept that He has a plan, and it is not my will. 

I didn’t figure that out until like years into my sobriety. I thought life was supposed to be easy, and if it wasn’t, something was wrong. 

Delusion

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game.”

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 23, There is a Solution.

Dangerously Anti-Social

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social.”

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 21, There is a Solution.

Serving Others…

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.”

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 20, There is a Solution

But a Beginning

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning. A much more important demonstration of our principles lies before us in our respective home, occupations and affairs.”

[The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 19, There is a Solution.]

The word “drink” is last mentioned on page 51 of the Big Book. After that, it’s a book on how to live.

Cornered at Last

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“I, who had thought so well of myself and my abilities, of my capacity to surmount obstacles, was cornered at last.”

[The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 8, Bills Story.]

I remember the day I realized I was cornered. I could not keep drinking -and- I could not stop drinking. I needed help.

Abstinence

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence.”

[The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. xxx, The Doctor’s Opinion.]

I have a mental obsession and a physical allergy. Before I was recovered, I constantly thought about when and where I could get drunk again. I also have a physical allergy to alcohol. Once alcohol enters my body, the phenomenon of craving sets in. A craving so strong that most of the time, regardless of how much willpower, I lose control of my ability to say no to the next drink, and the next…

If I had an allergy to peanuts, causing swelling and potentially death, why would I eat that first peanut?

Why do we drink?

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are Restless, Irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks – drinks which they see others taking with impunity.”

[The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 21, There is a Solution.]

Sharing Experience, Strength, and Hope

•January 27, 2024 • Leave a Comment

“Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.”

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. xxii, Forward to Third Edition.