liquor
Americannoun
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liquors
plural
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a distilled or spirituous beverage, as brandy or whiskey, as distinguished from a fermented beverage, as wine or beer.
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any liquid substance, as broth from cooked meats or vegetables.
- Synonyms:
- juice
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Pharmacology. solution.
-
a solution of a substance, especially a concentrated one used in the industrial arts.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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any alcoholic drink, esp spirits, or such drinks collectively
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any liquid substance, esp that in which food has been cooked
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pharmacol a solution of a pure substance in water
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brewing warm water added to malt to form wort
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drunk; intoxicated
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of liquor
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Qin Gang, China’s former foreign minister, once told Wilder that Xi “loved to drink,” and that the two had grown close on long flights over moutai, the fiery grain liquor prized by China’s elite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Canada’s top liquor brand looks on track for a reprieve because it’s bottled in the U.S. for American customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Also as a result of her piece, she was slapped with a one-million-dollar libel suit, subpoenaed as a witness in a liquor laws case against the Playboy Club, and received “obscene and threatening” calls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Canada's regional leaders said previously that the United States was particularly irritated by one retaliatory measure: the removal of US alcohol and wine from liquor stores.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
In the spring of 1925, when White was still based in Houston, Hoover expressed outrage to him that several agents in the San Francisco field office were drinking liquor.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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The company on Tuesday kicked off a promotional campaign for Sarti Rosa, a relatively recent entry to its portfolio of liquors designed to be turned into spritzes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Josh pals around with the club’s impossibly wealthy members, serves them rare brown liquors and flies off with them to exotic locales at a moment’s notice.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
Pepper-infused liquors have become hot ingredients in everything from martinis to mules.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 29, 2024
Another of her reviews, based on blind tastings by several Times staff members, favored private-label liquors over popular brand names of scotch, bourbon, rye, vodka and gin.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
Cal led his brother across the street to Berges and Garrisiere, who imported fine wines and liquors.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.