hit the bottle
To drink alcohol steadily and in excess, particularly in response to a setback.
He's been hitting the bottle hard since his wife left him.
ADJ
direct
VERB + HIT
give sth, make, score
She made a hit with her new song and it quickly climbed the charts.
receive, suffer, take
The building suffered a direct hit during the storm last night.
HIT + NOUN
list
The celebrity's new movie is on the hit list of films everyone wants to see this summer.
man, squad
The crime boss hired a hit squad to eliminate his rival.
ADJ
big, greatest, huge, massive, real, smash
That movie was a huge hit with audiences and won several awards.
immediate, instant
box-office, chart
The movie became a huge box-office hit and made the director famous worldwide.
HIT + NOUN
album, film, movie, record, show, single, song
parade
That song spent three weeks at the top of the hit parade last summer.
PREP
~ with
The new video game has been a huge hit with teenagers since it came out last month.
ADV
hard
The ball hit the wall hard and bounced back across the court.
almost, nearly
The ball nearly hit my head when I wasn't paying attention during the game.
accidentally
While playing basketball, he accidentally hit the ball straight into the window.
VERB + HIT
want to
When the player fouled him, he wanted to hit the ball even harder.
be going to
The ball is going to hit the window if we keep playing here.
PREP
in
The ball hit him in the chest during the soccer match.
on
The ball hit against the window and cracked the glass.
with
The angry child hit the wall with his fist in frustration.
PHRASES
hit sb over the head
The robber hit him over the head and ran away with his wallet.
ADV
badly, hard, heavily, severely
The local economy was heavily hit when the factory closed down last year.
PHRASAL VERBS hit out
ADV
hard
wildly
The boxer swung wildly at his opponent throughout the entire first round.
PREP
at
The newspaper article hit at the government's failure to protect the environment.