Drinking
Drinking is the act of consuming a drink, almost always largely consisting of water. Lack of water in the diet will eventually cause death by dehydration. The sensation caused by dehydration of the body is called thirst[?].
Much of the world's disease is caused by the lack of clean drinking water.
Drinking vessels are a glass and a cup.
The word drinking is in particular used as a euphemism for the consumption of alcoholic beverages, with the word thirst being the corresponding euphemism used by alcoholics for alcoholism.