hard cider

noun

See under cider.

Origin of hard cider

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

cider

[sahy-der]

noun

the juice pressed from apples (or formerly from some other fruit) used for drinking, either before fermentation (sweet cider) or after fermentation (hard cider), or for making applejack, vinegar, etc.

Also British, cy·der.

Origin of cider

1250–1300; Middle English sidre < Middle French < Old French si(s)dre < Late Latin sīcera strong drink < Septuagint Greek sī́kera < Hebrew shēkhār (Levit. 10:9); replacing Middle English sithere < Old French sidre

Related formsci·der·ish, ci·der·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hard cider

Historical Examples of hard cider

I wish you'd been here in the hard-cider and log-cabin times, and you'd a seen reason and philosophy, as you call it!
The Chainbearer
J. Fenimore Cooper
"I saw old Ike Bradley go past here with a hard-cider jag that looped over till its aidges dragged on the ground," he explained.
The Skipper and the Skipped
Holman Day
Another proof of the fact was the barrel of hard-cider which lay under the cabin window.
A Boy's Town
W. D. Howells
The log-cabin and hard-cider watchwords were born of a taunt, like the "Gueux" of the Netherlands.
Atlantic Monthly, Volume 6, No. 38, December, 1860
Various

British Dictionary definitions for hard cider

cider

cyder

noun

Also called (US): hard cider an alcoholic drink made from the fermented juice of apples
Also called: sweet cider US and Canadian an unfermented drink made from apple juice

Word Origin for cider

C14: from Old French cisdre, via Medieval Latin, from Late Greek sikera strong drink, from Hebrew shēkhār

hard cider

noun

US and Canadian fermented apple juiceCompare sweet cider

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 hard cider

cider

late 13c., from Old French cidre, cire "pear or apple cider" (12c., Modern French cidre), variant of cisdre, from Late Latin sicera, Vulgate rendition of Hebrew shekhar, a word used for any strong drink (translated in Old English as beor, taken untranslated in Septuagint Greek as sikera), related to Arabic sakar "strong drink," sakira "was drunk." Meaning gradually narrowed in English to mean exclusively "fermented drink made from apples," though this sense also was in Old French.