malt
Americannoun
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malts
plural
-
germinated grain, usually barley, used in brewing and distilling.
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any alcoholic beverage, as beer, ale, or malt liquor, fermented from malt.
-
whisky, as Scotch, that is distilled entirely from malted barley.
verb (used with object)
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malts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
malted,
past participle, past
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malting
present participle
-
to convert (grain) into malt by soaking it in water and allowing it to germinate.
-
to treat or mix with malt, malt extract, etc.
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to make (liquor) with malt.
verb (used without object)
-
malts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
malted,
past participle, past
-
malting
present participle
-
to become malt.
-
to produce malt from grain.
noun
-
cereal grain, such as barley, that is kiln-dried after it has germinated by soaking in water
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See malt liquor
-
short for malt whisky
verb
-
to make into or become malt
-
to make (something, esp liquor) with malt
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
maltsimple
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maltssimple
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have maltedperfect
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has maltedperfect
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am maltingprogressive
-
are maltingprogressive
-
is maltingprogressive
-
have been maltingperfect progressive
-
has been maltingperfect progressive
Past
-
maltedsimple
-
had maltedperfect
-
was maltingprogressive
-
were maltingprogressive
-
had been maltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of malt
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English mealt; cognate with Old Norse malt, German Malz; akin to melt 1
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:
“I think that the Notch is the most Scotch-like American single malt in flavor profile,” said Adam Polonski, co-founder of bottling house Lost Lantern Whiskey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Dessert revives malt bread as French toast alongside sea buckthorn and pumpkin held through autumn and sharpened into sorbet.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
Watt says they would sleep only a few hours a night, often on sacks of malt on the brewery floor, and told of the financial hardship they faced.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
Founded in 1933 as E. & J. Gallo Winery, the company in 2024 renamed itself to reflect its portfolio, which by then had grown beyond wine to include distilled spirits, malt beverages and ready-to-drink cocktails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
After a hairdressing, for example, he meets her at the drugstore for her vanilla malt and his cherry smash.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
The U.S. isn’t the only producer of single malts outside traditional powerhouses like Scotland, Ireland and Japan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Single malts, which sell at premium prices, are a particularly important part of exports to the US.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2025
Many recent technological advances in production help nonalcoholic beer maintain fermentation characteristics derived from the malts, hops and yeast, thus providing a more balanced and pleasant product that tastes like "real" beer.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2023
"With no Australian malt available, the prices of other malts has become crazy."
From Reuters ● Sep. 29, 2023
A hamburger and a malt, a cold malt and fries—two hamburgers and two malts and fries— and he would sit and eat and tell everybody about the storm and the killer whales.
From "The Voyage Of The Frog" by Gary Paulsen
But the federal government didn’t even recognize American single malt—whiskey made from 100% malted barley produced at one U.S. distillery—as a spirits category until 2025.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Roasted and ground lupin, chickpea, malted barley, and chicory are amongst the major ingredients the company works with, along with an undisclosed natural flavouring.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024
“And the Welsh have everything that we have: They have decent water, they have malted barley, and they have yeast, so they can make good whisky.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2024
When brewing beer, brewers extract sugars from malted barley — barley grains that have been partially germinated and then dried to make available the starches in the grain and enzymes that break them down.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2023
“You know,” I said, “you ought to throw away that jar of malted milk you have in there.”
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Additionally, its small size means it falls through the perforations at the bottoms of malting kettles designed to accommodate larger barley kernels.
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2023
Established in 1868, it is the oldest malting plant in the country and one of the oldest in the world.
From Reuters ● Jan. 2, 2023
However, there's increasing interest within the malting and distilling industries to explore a role for older barley varieties.
From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2023
After the malting operation closed, the building fell into disrepair.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2022
And besides, with July nearly upon them, the three roommates were malting plans for going home.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
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.
