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• beer
  beer

  noun

  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.
• Beer
  Beer

  noun

  Thomas, 1889–1940, U.S. author.

beer

¹ American  

[beer] / bɪər /

noun

• beers
  plural

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.

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Beer ² American  

[beer] / bɪər /

noun

1. Thomas, 1889–1940, U.S. author.

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beer British  

/ bɪə /

noun

1. an alcoholic drink brewed from malt, sugar, hops, and water and fermented with yeast Compare ale

2. a slightly fermented drink made from the roots or leaves of certain plants

   ginger beer

   nettle beer

3. (modifier) relating to or used in the drinking of beer

   beer glass

   beer mat

4. (modifier) in which beer is drunk, esp (of licensed premises) having a licence to sell beer

   beer house

   beer cellar

   beer garden

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• beers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of beer

First recorded 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 from Old English); further origin uncertain

Explanation

Beer is an alcoholic drink usually made from barley and hops. A beer is a can or pint of the stuff. Too much beer can make people, often college students, wear lampshades as hats or dance like chickens. Cheers! Beer is a foamy, malt-flavored beverage with a relatively low alcohol content. Beer is actually the most commonly consumed alcoholic drink around the world, and it's believed to be the oldest too. Brewers make beer by fermenting a grain — usually barley or wheat — and adding hops or other flavoring agents. The word comes from the Old English beor, and though experts disagree about its roots, one guess names the Vulgar Latin biber, "beverage," as a possible origin.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beer Beer beers

The harvest of barley, oats and rapeseed, which are used in beer, breakfast cereals and vegetable oil, is estimated to drop to just 19.5 million tonnes, the worst since records began in 1984.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Campari CPR -0.34%decrease; red down pointing triangle sees untapped opportunities for its popular Aperol brand: taking on beer, a stadium favorite, at concerts and sporting events.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Aperol offered a recognisable glass, an easy-to-reproduce recipe, and a market position midway between beer or wine and more elaborate cocktails.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

It looks a little silly—Dodgers legend Orel Hershiser compared it to something typically seen in a beer league softball game—but the results have been extraordinary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

American colonists used molasses not only to produce rum but to make beer as well.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

Anheuser-Busch InBev is marking International Beer Day on Friday with a new “Cheers to Beer” campaign from Wieden+Kennedy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Companies such as Boston Beer, Sherwin-Williams and Unilever have raised prices or plan to do so soon to offset rising raw material costs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

Madison Beer’s latest release, “locket,” is full of references and inspirations from the music of the 2010s, which Beer grew up with.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Pubs, a quintessential cornerstone of British communities, are closing at the rate of around one a day, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

As the day wore on, Holmes bought them chocolate and lemonade and root beer at one of the Hires Root Beer Oases that dotted the grounds.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

‘Pony’ beers are getting attention from brewers like Constellation Brands that want to appeal to moderation-minded drinkers and the GLP-1 crowd.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Still, Briggs said his money did not feel like it went as far in the U.S. as it would back home in Scotland, pointing to $7 fries and $10 beers in Boston and New York.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

“I was selling beers for five hours straight,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

"Back in the early nineties, we brewed three beers, a mild, a bitter and Old Hooky," he said.

From BBC ● May 25, 2026

The local beer loyalties of individual German drinkers are reinforced by German laws that make it hard for foreign beers to compete in the German market.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond