/dʒɪn ˈpɜːrfjuːm/ noun phrase
Definition: The distinct, botanical scent of alcohol—specifically gin—emanating from a person’s breath or pores, often used as a euphemism for public intoxication.
*Was originally used to describe an early meeting with someone who had clearly enjoyed a dressing drink or two.
Etymology
A sardonic linguistic “upgrade” that reclassifies the smell of heavy drinking as a deliberate fragrance. Because gin is distilled with juniper berries and various aromatics, its scent is more “perfume-like” than other spirits. Historically, this term was used in social circles to acknowledge a person’s drinking habit without using more clinical or accusatory language like “alcohol breath.”
Usage
Context: Used to describe someone who has been drinking heavily, often to the point where the scent is inescapable. It implies a thin veil of attempted elegance over a clear state of inebriation.
In a sentence: She leaned in to whisper a secret, but all I could catch was a heavy dose of gin perfume.