▪ I. beer, n.1
(bɪə(r))
Forms: 1–3 béor (bear), 3–4 ber, 4 bor, 5–7 bere, beere, 6 bier, Sc. beir, 6–7 bear(e, 6– beer.
[Common WGer.: OE. béor = OHG. bior, MHG. and mod.G. bier, MLG. bêr, MDu. and Du. bier, all neut.; cf. also ON. bjor-r masc. Etymology uncertain.
The OTeut. form might be *beuro-(m), f. *beuwo- barley (whence ON. bygg: see bigg); Kögel, taking the same derivation, has suggested as the Gothic form *biggwis:—OTeut. *beuwiz-; Sievers points out that one of the other forms of the neuter suffix -os, -es, -s, viz. *beuwoz-, or rather *beuwz- would better account for the WGer. forms. Others (see Kluge) have thought of a connexion with brew (taking beuro- as for *breuro-). Franck's suggestion of an Aryan *bhur- ‘to ferment’ seems unwarranted, there being no known Aryan roots in -ur.]
I. 1. a. An alcoholic liquor obtained by the fermentation of malt (or other saccharine substance), flavoured with hops or other aromatic bitters. Formerly distinguished from ale by being hopped; but now the generic name of malt liquor, including ale and porter, though sometimes restricted and used in contradistinction to ale. The word occurs in OE., but its use is rare, except in poetry, and it seems to have become common only in the 16th c. as the name of hopped malt liquor. Not in Chaucer or Piers Ploughman. See further under ale.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke i. 15 He ne drincð win ne béor [Lindisf. and Rushw. bear]. c 1205 Lay. 8124 Weoren þa bernes iscængte mid beore. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1009 Hi nabbeth noth win ne bor. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 128 Good ber and bryȝt wyn boþe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 31 Bere, a drynke, hummuli potus, aut cervisia hummulina. 1502 Arnold Chron. (1811) 247, X. quarters malte, ij quarters wheet, ij quarters ootes, xl. ll' weight of hoppys. To make lx. barellis of sengyll beer. a 1529 Skelton El. Rummyng in Harl. Misc. I. 415 (D.) The Dutchman's strong beere Was not hopt over heere. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 583 With Marche aill and also doubill beir. 1542 Boorde Dyetary x. 256 Bere is made of malte, of hoppes, and water: it is a naturall drynke for a Dutche man. And nowe of late dayes it is moche vsed in Englande to the detryment of many Englysshe men. 1570 Levins Manip. 84 Bere, potus lupinatus. 1574 R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 6 If the controuersie be betwixt Beere and Ale, which of them two shall have y⊇ place of preheminence? 1578 Lyte Dodoens 17 In barrels of Bier. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 7 Doth it not show vildely in me, to desire small Beer? 1620 Venner Via Recta ii. 36 Ale by reason of the grossenesse of the substance of it..is more nourishing then Beere. 1641 Baker Chron. (1696) 298 Turkeys, carps, hops, piccadel, and beer, Came into England all in one year. c 1645 Howell Lett. ii. liv, Since Beer hath hopp'd in among us, Ale is thought to be much adulterated. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 119 A beer was made by the Germans..from oats and wheat. 1883 Prof. Gardner in Glasg. Wkly. Her. 1 Sept. 8/1 The present proper definition of beer may be as follows:—‘A saccharine fluid flavoured with hops, or other aromatic bitters, which has been rendered alcoholic by fermentation.’ |
b. buttered beer: see
ale 4.
small beer: weak beer; hence
fig. trifling matters, small things, as in the colloquial phrase
to think no small beer of oneself;
to be in beer: to be under the effects of beer, to be more or less intoxicated;
on the beer: on a bout of drinking (
cf. on the booze s.v. booze n. 2 b);
beer and skittles: see
skittle n. 1 b.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 423/1, I stande in so great peryll of chokyng with lucre, as Tindal standeth in daunger of choking with the bones of buttred beere. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 161 To suckle fooles, and chronicle small Beere. 1631 J. Rous Diary (1856) 66 Warren (that was in beere)..urged the maide to ride behinde him. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 269 ¶8, I allow a double Quantity of Malt to my small Beer. 1840 De Quincey Style Wks. XI. 174 Should express her self-esteem by the popular phrase, that she did not ‘think small beer of herself.’ 1880 Academy 25 Sept. 219 Two such chroniclers of small beer as Boswell and Erskine. 1887 F. T. Havergal Herefordshire Words 6/2 When a man is in a fuddled state it is said that ‘he is on the beer’. 1959 Listener 4 June 980/2 A riotous evening on the beer. |
2. Applied to fermented liquors of various kinds, or flavoured by various ingredients, as
nettle beer,
spruce beer,
tar beer,
treacle beer, ginger beer.
| a 1100 Ags. Gloss. in Wülcker Voc. 329 Ydromellum vel mulsum, beor. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physic 102 The beer of the decoction of Camomil flowers is miraculous. 1850 T. Smith Terebinth. Med. 61 Beverage, pale ale, dandelion beer, spruce beer. |
II. Comb. and
attrib. 3. General relations:
a. objective
gen. with
vbl. n. or agent-noun, as
beer-bibber,
beer-bibbing,
beer-brewer,
beer-brewing,
beer-buttering,
beer-carrier,
beer-drinker,
beer-drinking,
beer-monger,
beer-seller,
beer-soaking;
beer-swilling ppl. a. and
vbl. n. b. instrumental with
pa. pple., as
beer-bemuddled;
c. attrib. (of, made of or with, beer), as
beer-broth,
beer-posset,
beer-soup,
beer-stain,
beer-yeast;
d. attrib. (of, for, or connected with the manufacture, sale, or use of beer), as,
beer-barrel,
beer-bottle,
beer-cellar,
beer-gallon,
beer-mat,
beer-shop,
beer-vat.
| 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xiii, To be looked upon as a common pipe-smoker, *beer-bibber. |
| 1465 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 201 My mastyr payd to Clayson *berebrewer of Herewyche, for iiij. barelles of bere..vj. viij.d. 1565 J. Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 295 This Thomas Beckets Father was a Iew, and a Béere-Brewer of London. 1766 Entick London IV. 179 The drink is supplied by two beer-brewers. |
| a 1628 F. Greville Sidney (1652) 24 The Burgesses of that *beer-brewing town [Delft]. |
| 1598 Marston Pygmal. ii. 147 From Belgia what? but their deep bezeling, Their boote-carouse, and their *Beere-buttering. |
| 1664 Killigrew Parson's Wed. i. iii, By the way of a country-gentleman and a *beer-drinker. |
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism iii. 121 A bounty on unthrift..and *beer-drinking. |
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 321 *Beere-mongers, Inne-keepers and Tapsters. |
| 1849 T. Martin Ballads 165 In *beer-swilling Copenhagen I have drunk your Danesman blind. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 3/2 Beer-swilling in Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon was not..one of the regular sights of London. |
| 1851 Kingsley Yeast xiii. 238 Afraid of the jealousy of some *beer-bemuddled swain. |
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. II. 176 He Must not vary, From *beer-broth at all. |
| 1842 Mrs. Gore Fascin. 109 Having eaten a slice of cold venison, with a basin of *beer-posset. |
| 1857 E. Acton Eng. Bread-Bk. ii. §3. 121 For two pounds of flour half an ounce..of *beer-yeast is used. |
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 235 Why of that Lome might they not stopp a *Beere barrel? 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, Unless you'd have the poor devil soused in a beer-barrel. |
| 1839 C. Sinclair Holiday House i. 13 If I want to draw a cork out of a *beer bottle. 1968 B. K. Martin Editor xi. 237 Many of the men..wore chains round their necks made of the tops of beer-bottles. |
| 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves v. 54 They burst into the *beer-cellars. |
| 1661 S. Partridge Double Sc. Proport. 68 To know how many Ale or *Beer-gallons are in it, divide 24839, 56 the content in inches. |
| 1939 C. Day Lewis Child of Misf. iii. v. 323 The *beer-mats on the mantlepiece (what odd things for her to have brought out of Germany). |
| 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. i. ii. 44 Poor men give them [priests] Their power at the Church and take it back at the *beer-shop. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. vi. vi. 356 Thou laggard sonorous *Beer-vat [Santerre]..is it time now to palter? |
4. Special combinations:
† beer-bombard, a large can or vessel for holding beer;
beer-boy = pot-boy;
beer-cellar, (
a) an underground room for storing beer; (
b) a beer-shop in a cellar or basement;
beer-chiller, a funnel-shaped pot made of tin, used to warm, or ‘take off the chill’ of beer over the fire;
beer-cooler, a large shallow vat for cooling beer;
beer-corn, grain used for brewing;
beer drink S. Afr., a native gathering for the purpose of drinking Kaffir beer;
beer-engine, a machine for drawing or pumping up beer from the casks to the bar;
beer-faucet, a machine for injecting air into flat beer to make it foam;
beer-float, a hydrometer for ascertaining the density of beer-wash;
beer-fountain (
= beer-engine);
beer-garden, a garden attached to an inn for the consumption of beer;
beer-glass, a glass holding half a pint; a tumbler;
beer-hall S. Afr., a public hall where Kaffir beer is sold to non-whites;
beer-heading, a mixture intended to revive flat beer;
† beer-horse, a brewer's horse;
beer-house, a house licensed for the sale of beer, but not of spirits;
beer-machine (
= beer-engine);
beer money, an allowance of money to servants, instead of beer; also
gen., a small amount of money earned or allowed;
beer-off slang, an off-licence;
beer-parlor,
-parlour [
cf. parlour 3]
Canadian, a room in a hotel or tavern where beer is served;
beer-pot, now a pewter vessel holding a quart or a pint, formerly probably made of wooden staves, and hooped;
beer-pull, the handle of a beer-engine;
beer-pump (
= beer-engine);
beer-tray, a tray fitted with two upright ends, and an upright division from one to the other, so as to hold two rows of beer pots;
beer-up, a drinking-bout or -party;
beer-vinegar, vinegar made from beer (
cf. beeregar).
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxiv. 285 A *beer-boy happened to pass. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 5 Feb. 12/1 His silk hat..had been ruined by the beer-boy spilling a pint of ale into it. |
| a 1652 Brome Jov. Crew i. 362 We have unloaden the Bread-basket, the Beef-kettle, and the *Beer-Bumbards. |
| 1732 S. Carolina Gaz. 28/2 At the *Beer Cellar, over against Mr. Elliot's Bridge. 1817 J. K. Paulding Lett. from South II. 57 Diving into stews and beer-cellars. 1820 Sporting Mag. VI. 225/1 The coffee-houses and beer-cellars of the Palais-Royal [in Paris] teem indiscriminately with both sexes. 1865 [see sense 3 d]. 1952 A. Bullock Hitler i. 43 He [sc. Hitler] spent much time in cafés and beer-cellars, devouring the newspapers and arguing about politics. |
| 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 145/2 Until..the little *beer-chiller on the fire, had started into life. |
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 15 A due proportion between the mault and other *beer-corn. |
| 1895 Scully Kafir Stories 182 Lukwazi rode..from *beer-drink to beer-drink, and he was drunk most of his days. 1899 W. H. Brown On S. Afr. Frontier xv. 213 When the bride reaches her new home the event is celebrated with a big dance and a ‘beer drink’. 1959 Rand Daily Mail 21 Jan. 9/6 Police investigating housebreaking on a farm stumbled on an illicit beer-drink and arrested 14 Africans. |
| 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 78 Pliable composition tube, employed by the makers of *beer engines. |
| 1863 Trollope in Tales of all Countries (ser. 2) 302 They all passed their evenings together in the *beer-garden. 1884 Harper's Mag. Jan. 299/1 The bowling-ally is..an adjunct of what is known as a beer garden. |
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 36 The aptest glasses..were streight upright ones, like to our long *beere glasses. 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4391/3 A Silver cup..the Form of a Beer-Glass. |
| 1900 Statute Law of S. Rhodesia 1899 II. 90 ‘*Beer Hall Licenses’ may be issued to brewers of beer manufactured in Southern Rhodesia for the sale of such beer by retail. 1942 Cape Times 24 Dec. 7 The shebeeners of large townships naturally press for the abolition of municipal beer-halls. 1958 N. Gordimer World of Strangers xiii. 193 The people..read of strikes, of beer-hall riots. |
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 178 The butler and the *beere horse both be like one They drawe beere both. |
| 1494 Fabyan vii. 658 The Kentysshemen..robbyd and spoyled the Flemynges, and all the *bere-howses. 1864 Derby Merc. 7 Dec., A beer-house keeper..had been convicted of selling beer during the prohibited hours on Sunday. |
| 1827 J. Wight More Mornings at Bow St. 24 Recommending him to spend his *beer-money at home instead of abroad. 1845 Disraeli Sybil (1863) 90 There is beer-money allowed,..and that makes nearly a shilling per week additional. 1961 A. Miller Misfits xi. 125 There's hardly beer money in it for six, Gay. 1965 G. Melly Owning-Up iv. 38 We, poor fools, made nothing but a little beer money. |
| 1939 Nottingham Jrnl. 15 Mar. 4/4 Children and *beer-offs. 1958 A. Sillitoe Sat. Night & Sun. Morning vii. 98 Bill..had called at the beer-off by the street-end. |
| 1925 in E. Tuck Brief Hist. Pouce Coupe Village, B.C. 14 *Beer parlour was opened in Pouce Coupe. 1935 Calgary Typogr. News 26 Apr. 3/1 There is a growing agitation, both in Calgary and Edmonton, against the segregation of women customers of the beer parlors of these two cities in separate rooms. 1937 I. Baird John xix. 226 He took Albert and Red..to the beer parlour and stood them a bottle apiece. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 July 5/2 The prostitutes..who hang around the beer parlors are having poor pickings. |
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 42 She was made lyke a *beere pot, or a barell. |
| 1864 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi. 46 Polite *beer-pulls that made low bows. |
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 9 A *beare Pumpe. 1863 Smiles Indust. Biogr. 191 Another popular machine of his is the beer-pump, patented in 1797. |
| 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 183 *Beer-trays—such as the London pot-boys use for the conveyance of the mid-day porter. |
| 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 10 *Beer-up, a drunken orgy. 1941 K. Tennant Battlers xxviii. 314 ‘If he's on a real proper beer-up,’ the Stray whispered, ‘he may go on for days.’ 1945 E. Taylor At Mrs. Lippincote's x. 89 Does you good to have a bit of a beer-up now and then. |
| 1672 Davenant Ballad Wks. (1673) 339 Sack which like *Beer-Vinegar looks. |
Add:
[II.] [4.] beer belly slang, (
a) a protruding stomach or paunch caused by drinking large quantities of beer; (
b)
transf., one who has such a stomach.
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang § 121/7 Drunkard's paunch, beer barrel, *-belly, -muscle or tumor. 1969 Rolling Stone 28 June 26/1 Woods pauses to tuck his shirt between a beer belly and a silver belt buckle. 1972 G. Beine Land of Coyote 26 They described Pa as a beer-belly and said Ma was unfriendly. 1986 D. Gethin Dane's Testament xviii. 120 He wore a ridiculously tight shirt that accentuated his beer belly. |
beer gut slang = *
beer belly (a).
| 1976 Sounds 11 Dec. 12/1 A mouthful only as big as the man's beer-gut. 1983 Listener 6 Jan. 14/2 ‘The Teds are dated,’ jeered an Ilford cat. ‘They're all middle-aged with a beer gut and size 15 brothel-creepers.’ 1986 Los Angeles Times 10 July iii. 2/2 Fregosi took to wearing the jacket..when he began to develop a beer gut while trying to play for the Mets. |
▪ II. † beer, n.2 Obs. rare.
(
ˈbiːə(r))
Also 4
beere.
[f. be v. + -er1.] One who is or exists; sometimes
spec. the Self-existent, the great
I Am.
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xix. 28 Ther is a beere stille [1388 a stille man]. 1587 Golding De Mornay iii. (1617) 29 He calleth God..the Beer—that is to say; Hee who only is or hath beeing. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xvii. lxxviii, The Beer, Cause Divine in all, all Godheads Essence. |
▪ III. beer, n.3 Weaving.
Also 9
bier.
[The same word as bier ‘a means of carrying,’ cf. the synonym porter used in Scotland.] The name given to a (variable) number of ends (interlaced with a cord or cords), into which a warp is divided in the process of warping, in order to facilitate the opening and dividing of the warp, after sizing, while being wound on the beam; it also facilitates the subsequent process of weaving.
| 1712 J. Beaumont Math. Sleaing Tables 40 Every weaver should be obliged to run a coarse coloured thread through every forty threads in the breadth of the cloth to mark the beers or scores. 1819 Peddie Linen Weaver's Assist. 178 In Manchester and Bolton..these biers contain 19, but more frequently 20 splits, or what is termed there dents. 1860 White Weaving 277 The hundred splits..is nominally divided into five equal portions for the sake of calculation, called porters in Scotland and beers in England. 1880 T. R. Ashenhurst Use & Abuse of Arithmetic in Textile Calculations 5 Beers are variable quantities according to the custom of the district. |
▪ IV. ‖ beer, n.4 Obs. rare.
[Du.] A mole or pier.
| 1629 S'hertogenbosh 13 The water..was stayed with two stone beeres on the Bulworkes, next to the boome. |
▪ V. beer, v. (
bɪər)
[f. beer n.1] intr. To drink or indulge in beer. (
colloq. and
humorous.)
| 1780–6 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes R. Acad. Wks. 1794 I. 105 He surely had been brandying it, or beering. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 242 A cart and a waggon watering (it would be more correct, perhaps, to say beering) at the Rose. |
▸
to beer up v.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
1. intr. To drink beer; to get drunk,
esp. on beer. Also
trans. with
it.
| 1884 N.Y. Times 26 May 8 They made an attack upon the bar, and after ‘beering up’, started for the diamond-field. 1952 N.Y. Times Mag. 16 Nov. 10/2 The mechanics, beering up with the guys and driving off to Detroit. 1977 Time (Atlantic ed.) 19 Sept. 42/2 Every so-called joy of summer—whether getting wet, beering up or fleeing to the mountains—consists..of escaping the suffocating reality of the season. 1993 S. McAughtry Touch & Go ii. 5 At least with an excuse like this nobody could blame me for beering it up. |
2. trans. (in
pass.). To be drunk,
esp. on beer; to have been drinking excessively. Esp. in
to get beered up.
Cf. beered-up adj.| 1892 Elyria (Ohio) Republican 30 June 8/4 Paul Sacke attended the memorial and got well ‘beered up’. 1930 F. D. Palsey Al Capone iii. 146 Joey Brooks..used to get beered up..and go over and ‘pull Polack Joe's shirt-tail out’. 1968 ‘E. Lathen’ Stitch in Time xiii. 110 Gene was a little beered up by then. 1998 Sunday Tel. (Electronic ed.) 12 Apr. 18 We don't want gangs of lads sitting around getting beered-up all day long. |
▪ VI. beer Obs. f. bear v.
and n.2,
bier, and
birr force, impetus.