What is the "thirsty" equivalent of "ravenously"?

When you eat something very hungrily, you can use the adverb "ravenously" to describe it. But when you drink something very fast in a similar way to quench your thirst, what adverb can you use to describe it?

Solution 1:

I don't think there's a perfect word for this, but here are some suggestions:

insatiably

This does not, of course, refer specifically to thirst, or to the action, but it does mean "incapable of being satisfied", which covers the motivation and thereby suggests the action.

voraciously

"having a huge appetite". Of course appetite typically relates to food, but one can have an appetite for anything: consider "a voracious reader". Interestingly, MW has this to say about the origin:

Latin vorac-, vorax, from vorare to devour; akin to Old English ācweorran to guzzle, Latin gurges whirlpool, Greek bibrōskein to devour

Of course "guzzle" specifically refers to drinking.

unquenchably

"quenchable" = to relieve or satisfy with liquid, so unquenchably would be with the inability to be relieved or satisfied with liquid.

greedily

which can apply equally to food or drink: "having a strong desire for food or drink".

"drank greedily" has a number of hits on Google books - and is at least once paired with eating ravenously:

Inside he found the food and water his body craved; he ate ravenously and drank greedily.

Solution 2:

Agree with "parchedly," but that's a pretty sorry word! You may be better off using a different verb than "to drink": gulp or guzzle, or, taking considerable poetic license with the meaning of the words, gasp or croak ("he gasped / croaked down a liter of water"). Another alternative is to use an adverb not specifically meaning "thirstily" but implying intensity or earnestness ("he desperately / furiously drank...").