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Beer
Definitions
- 1 A village in East Devon district, Devon, England.
- 2 A surname.
- 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. uncountable
"Beer is brewed all over the world."
- 2 One who is or exists. nonstandard
"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."
- 3 a general name for alcoholic beverages made by fermenting a cereal (or mixture of cereals) flavored with hops wordnet
- 4 A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc. uncountable
- 5 A solution produced by steeping plant materials in water or another fluid. uncountable
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- 6 A glass, bottle, or can of any of the above beverages. countable
"I bought a few beers from the shop for the party."
- 7 A variety of the above beverages. countable
"Pilsner is one of the most commonly served beers in Europe."
- 1 To give beer to (someone). informal, transitive
"No doubt he then can feed us, wine us, beer us, And cook us something that can warm and cheer us."
- 2 To drink beer. informal, intransitive
"In Japan, students on a Friday night announce “Let's beer!”"
Etymology
From Middle English 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”).
From Middle English 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”).
From Middle English beere, equivalent to be + -er.
From Old English bearu (“grove”), from Proto-West Germanic *baru, from Proto-Germanic *barwaz (“grove”).
* As an English surname, from the place name in Devon (see Etymology 1 above); also from Old English bār (“boar”). * As a north German and Dutch surname, from beer (“bear”). See also the surnames Baer and Bahr. * As an Alemannic German surname, spelling variant of Bier (“beer”).
See also for "beer"
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