Usquebaugh
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Whiskey or whisky. Ireland, Scotland, archaic, countable, uncountable
"[R]emember the Lo[rd] Admyrall [Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham] and the Lord Threasurer [Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset] with a couple of Pugges or some vscough baugh or some such toyes, it would shew that you do not neglect them, whoe, I protest, are to you wonderfull kynde."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[R]emember the Lo[rd] Admyrall [Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham] and the Lord Threasurer [Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset] with a couple of Pugges or some vscough baugh or some such toyes, it would shew that you do not neglect them, whoe, I protest, are to you wonderfull kynde."
Etymology
[Alt: A glass with a round bottom which tappers to the lip, served with usquebaugh.] Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wed- Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥der. Proto-Celtic *udenskyos Old Irish uisce Irish uisce Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós Proto-Celtic *biwos Proto-Celtic *-tūts Proto-Celtic *biwotūts Old Irish bethu Irish beatha Medieval Latin aqua vītaecalq. Irish uisce beathabor. ▲ Old Irish uisce Scottish Gaelic uisge ▲ Old Irish bethu Scottish Gaelic beatha Medieval Latin aqua vītaecalq. Scottish Gaelic uisge-beathabor. English usquebaugh Borrowed from Irish uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha (“whiskey or whisky”, literally “water of life”) (a calque of Medieval Latin aqua vītae (“distilled alcohol, liquor”, literally “water of life”)), from Irish uisce, Scottish Gaelic uisge (“water”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”)) + Irish beatha, Scottish Gaelic beatha (“life”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)), Doublet of whiskey and whisky.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.