liquor

[lik-er, lik-wawr]

noun

1. a distilled or spirituous beverage, as brandy or whiskey, as distinguished from a fermented beverage, as wine or beer.

2. any liquid substance, as broth from cooked meats or vegetables.

   Synonyms: juice

3. Pharmacology.,  solution.

4. a solution of a substance, especially a concentrated one used in the industrial arts.

verb (used with object)

1. Informal.,  to furnish or ply with liquor to drink (often followed byup ).

verb (used without object)

1. Informal.,  to drink large quantities of liquor (often followed byup ).

liquor

/ ˈlɪkə /

noun

1. any alcoholic drink, esp spirits, or such drinks collectively

2. any liquid substance, esp that in which food has been cooked

3. pharmacol a solution of a pure substance in water

4. brewing warm water added to malt to form wort

5. drunk; intoxicated

verb

1. brewing to steep (malt) in warm water to form wort; mash

Other Word Forms

• liquory adjective
• antiliquor adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of liquor¹

1175–1225; < Latin: a liquid, originally liquidity ( liqu ( ēre ) to be liquid + -or -or ¹ ); replacing Middle English lic ( o ) ur < Old French ( French liqueur ) < Latin liquōrem, accusative of liquor

Word History and Origins

Origin of liquor¹

C13: via Old French from Latin, from liquēre to be liquid

Example Sentences

In another clip, federal agents detained an elderly man sitting on the sidewalk near a liquor store, “making sure to put a handcuff on his hand as they helped him up.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

That countered higher receipts at beer, wine and liquor stores, and at supermarkets and grocery retailers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

On reaching the outskirts of the capital, Patna, the team found a ramshackle setup of a dozen metal drums - part of a makeshift apparatus fermenting jaggery, a type of cane sugar, into country liquor.

Read more on BBC

That includes foreigners and workers on the country's tea estates, where Carew's low-cost liquor is popular among the 150,000 mainly Hindu workers.

Read more on Barron's

Mr. Lloyd’s earliest experiences playing for audiences included work with bluesmen such as Howlin’ Wolf, “in schoolhouses, with corn liquor, gambling and gunshots in the distance,” he told me.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• alcohol 
• booze 
• whiskey