Off-licence

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A shop selling alcohol for consumption only off the premises. Ireland, UK

    "Rolliver's inn, the single alehouse at this end of the long and broken village, could only boast of an off-license; hence, as nobody could legally drink on the premises, the amount of overt accommodation for consumers was strictly limited to a little board about six inches wide and two yards long, fixed to the garden palings by pieces of wire, so as to form a ledge."

  2. 2
    a store that sells alcoholic beverages for consumption elsewhere wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
liquor storebeer-offbottle shopbottlooffypackage store

Example

More examples

"I bought a bottle of beer at the off-licence."

Etymology

From the fact that such stores have a licence only to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.