saturnalian

• Saturnalian

From saturnalia +‎ -an.

saturnalian (comparative more saturnalian, superlative most saturnalian)

1. Riotously merry; dissolute.

saturnalian (plural saturnalians)

1. A merrymaker, a partygoer.
   • 1885, George Fleming [pseudonym; Julia Constance Fletcher], “Family Affairs”, in Andromeda. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], →OCLC, page 105:

     There were always certain delicious cakes and other sweets as well, curious conventual dainties, of which master and pupil partook with an equal and sympathetic appetite. If, by any evil chance, M. le Directeur came near them at that moment, the sight of his rigid scornful young face brought much confusion upon these innocent saturnalians, but for the most part they were undisturbed.

   • 1900 November 14, Baboo Hurry Bungsho Jabberjee [pseudonym; Thomas Anstey Guthrie], “A Bayard from Bengal. […] Chapter X. Trust Her Not! She Is Fooling Thee!”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume CXIX, London: […] Brabury, Agnew, & Co. […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 346, column 2:

     There soon remained only ono day before that carnival of all sporting saturnalians, the Epsom Derby day, and Bindabun formed the prudent resolution to avoid any delays or crushings by putting Milky Way into a railway box, and despatching her to Epsom on the previous afternoon, under the chaperonago of Cadwallader Perkin, who was to engage suitable lodgings for her in the vicinity of the course.

   • 1997 August, Beverly West, Kim Doi, “A Chauffeur, Cab Fare, or a Designated Driver”, in Cocktail Nation: Cosmic Cocktails, Space-Age Shots, and Other Rituals of Release for the Jaded and Refined, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, chapter 1 (The Well-Stocked Bar), page 4:

     Sophisticated saturnalians do not drive drunk. That is why chauffeurs were invented.