drink the Kool-Aid

See also: drink the Kool Aid

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Referring to the Peoples Temple cult movement, who committed mass suicide in 1978 by drinking a powdered drink mix (believed to be Kool-Aid) laced with cyanide.

Verb

drink the Kool-Aid (third-person singular simple present drinks the Kool-Aid, present participle drinking the Kool-Aid, simple past drank the Kool-Aid, past participle drunk the Kool-Aid)

  1. (chiefly US, colloquial, derogatory) To come under the influence of a leader, organization, or movement to the point of believing uncritically in an espoused idea or ideology.
    • 1999, Robert Young, Wendy Goldman Rohm, Under the Radar: How Red Hat Changed the Software Business
      Netscape, while willing to drink the open source Kool Aid, realized there were other important issues in the commercial sector.
    • 2007, Doug Giles, A Time to Clash: Papers from a Provocative Pastor
      […] essentially three options to choose from when you're confronted with the liberal hooey. The options are: 1. You can drink the campus Kool Aid […]
    • 2008, Andrew C Billings, Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television
      They "drink the Kool-Aid", as Lampley terms it, meaning that they buy into the Olympic experience.
    • 2008, James Howard Kunstler, World Made by Hand
      "Then we better not drink the Kool-Aid. Have you been drinking the Kool-Aid, Robert?"

See also
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