beer
nounverbnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈbɪː//
- United Kingdom//ˈbɪjə//
- United Kingdom//ˈbiː.ə//
- United States//ˈbi.ɚ//
- Australia//ˈbɪə̯//
An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter flavor.
noun
- 1
An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter flavor.
Beer is brewed all over the world.
“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”
- 2
A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc.
- 3
A solution produced by steeping plant materials in water or another fluid.
- 4
A glass, bottle, or can of any of the above beverages.
I bought a few beers from the shop for the party.
Can I buy you a beer?
I'd like two beers and a glass of white wine.
- 5
A variety of the above beverages.
Pilsner is one of the most commonly served beers in Europe.
I haven't tried this beer before.
I had two beers yesterday at the restaurant.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *beuzą Proto-West Germanic *beuʀ Old English bēor Middle English ber English beer From Middle English ber, bere, from Old English bēor (“beer”) (Oxford OED notes: "rare, except in poetry"), from Proto-West Germanic *beuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *beuzą (“beer”) (putatively from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewsóm), meaning “brewer's yeast”. However, also see the "beer" entry on EtymOnline (q.v.), which links a connection to monastic Vulgar Latin *biber (“a drink, beverage”), from Latin bibere (“to drink”). Samuel Johnson in his famous 18th-century A Dictionary of the English Language guessed it was from (unattested) Welsh *bîr; he distinguished it in his time from ale — the ancient usual word — by beer being older-aged and/or smaller. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bjoor (“beer”), West Frisian bier (“beer”), Dutch bier (“beer”), German Low German Beer (“beer”), German Bier (“beer”), dialectal Swedish bjor, bör (“beer”), Norwegian Nynorsk bjor (“beer”), Faroese bjór (“beer”), Icelandic bjór (“beer”).
verb
- 1
informalTo give beer to (someone).
No doubt he then can feed us, wine us, beer us, And cook us something that can warm and cheer us.
“Beer me!” said Goody. “Also your weed is shit. Where’s the good stuff, dude?”
I heard Patty Marsh yelling, ‘Beer him, Eleanor!’
“Beer me!” To his astonishment she obeyed his command, appearing a minute later with a glass of beer and a wry smile.
- 2
informalTo drink beer.
In Japan, students on a Friday night announce “Let's beer!”
noun
- 1
One who is or exists.
That meant, among other things, that he was going to be a fast-moving doer. And even when he was three or four, it wasn't hard for me to know that this wasn't going to be easy. Because Albert was a beer. Born that way.
Etymology
From Middle English beere, equivalent to be + -er.
Forms
- plural
- beers
- past tense
- beered
- past participle
- beered
- present participle
- beering
- third person singular
- beers
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