small beer

See synonyms for small beer on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. weak beer.

  2. Chiefly British Slang. matters or persons of little or no importance.

Origin of small beer

1
First recorded in 1560–70

Words Nearby small beer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use small beer in a sentence

  • There was something superb in it, something heroically mad—not the sordid drunkenness of small beer.

    The Woman Gives | Owen Johnson
  • He seemed but half awake; and it was with drowsy voice that he called for a cup of cold small beer.

    Peveril of the Peak | Sir Walter Scott
  • The stump of a cabbage, and the proverb means much the same thing as "Spare no expense, bring another bottle of small beer."

  • As often as I called for small-beer, the master tipped the wink, and the servant brought me a brimmer of October.

British Dictionary definitions for small beer

small beer

noun
  1. informal, mainly British people or things of no importance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with small beer

small beer

Also, small potatoes. Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer, or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes. The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry, def. 2.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.