bacchanalia Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an orgiastic festival in ancient Greece in honor of Dionysus (= Bacchus)
    Dionysia.
  2. noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
    saturnalia; bacchanal; riot; debauch; drunken revelry; debauchery; orgy.

WordNet

Bac`cha*na"li*a noun plural
Etymology
L. Bacchanal a place devoted to Bacchus; in the pl. Bacchanalia a feast of Bacchus, fr. Bacchus the god of wine, Gr.
Definitions
  1. (Myth.) A feast or an orgy in honor of Bacchus.
  2. Hence: A drunken feast; drunken reveler.

Webster 1913