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definitions

beer

[beer]
See more synonyms for beer on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an alcoholic beverage made by brewing and fermentation from cereals, usually malted barley, and flavored with hops and the like for a slightly bitter taste.
  2. any of various beverages, whether alcoholic or not, made from roots, molasses or sugar, yeast, etc.: root beer; ginger beer.
  3. an individual serving of beer; a glass, can, or bottle of beer: We'll have three beers.

Origin of beer

before 1000; Middle English bere, Old English bēor; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German bior, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch bēr, Dutch, German Bier (Old Norse bjōrr, probably < OE); of disputed and ambiguous orig.
Can be confusedbeer bier

Beer

[beer]
noun
  1. Thomas,1889–1940, U.S. author.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for beer

lager, oil, ale, stout, suds, brew, chill, malt, brewski

Examples from the Web for beer

Contemporary Examples of beer

Historical Examples of beer

  • While beer brings gladness, don't forget That water only makes you wet!

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Put a halter round her neck, and sell her for a pot of beer.

    The Armourer's Prentices

    Charlotte M. Yonge

  • And so to-night I am going to spend them, not prudently on bread, but prodigally on beer.

    Ballads of a Bohemian

    Robert W. Service

  • "If you will warrant the beer, I will warrant the throat," said John composedly.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Over his schooner of beer K. gathered something of the story.

    K

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

British Dictionary definitions for beer

beer

noun
  1. an alcoholic drink brewed from malt, sugar, hops, and water and fermented with yeastCompare ale
  2. a slightly fermented drink made from the roots or leaves of certain plantsginger beer; nettle beer
  3. (modifier) relating to or used in the drinking of beerbeer glass; beer mat
  4. (modifier) in which beer is drunk, esp (of licensed premises) having a licence to sell beerbeer house; beer cellar; beer garden

Word Origin for beer

Old English beor; related to Old Norse bjōrr, Old Frisian biār, Old High German bior
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
Word Origin and History for beer
n.

Old English beor "strong drink, beer, mead," a word of much-disputed and ambiguous origin, cognate with Old Frisian biar, Middle Dutch and Dutch bier, Old High German bior, German Bier.

Probably a 6c. West Germanic monastic borrowing of Vulgar Latin biber "a drink, beverage" (from Latin infinitive bibere "to drink;" see imbibe). Another suggestion is that it comes from Proto-Germanic *beuwoz-, from *beuwo- "barley." The native Germanic word for the beverage was the one that yielded ale (q.v.).

Beer was a common drink among most of the European peoples, as well as in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but was known to the Greeks and Romans only as an exotic product. [Buck]

They did have words for it, however. Greek brytos, used in reference to Thracian or Phrygian brews, was related to Old English breowan "brew;" Latin zythum is from Greek zythos, first used of Egyptian beer and treated as an Egyptian word but perhaps truly Greek and related to zyme "leaven." French bière is from Germanic. Spanish cerveza is from Latin cervesia "beer," perhaps related to Latin cremor "thick broth."

Old Church Slavonic pivo, source of the general Slavic word for "beer," is originally "a drink" (cf. Old Church Slavonic piti "drink"). French bière is a 16c. borrowing from German. U.S. slang beer goggles, through which every potential romantic partner looks desirable, is from 1986.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper