Forms: 3 licur(e, 4 li-, lykour, 4–6 lycour(e, 4–7 licour(e, liquour(e, 5–6 lycor, 5–7 licor, (5 lycure, lycowr, liccore, 6 liquore, lyquor, liker, lickor, likcour, 7 liqor, liquer, licquor, lecker), 6– liquor. [a. OF. licur, licour, likeur, mod.F. liqueur (Pr. licor, liquor, Sp., Pg. licor, It. liquore), a. L. liquor (in Lucretius also līquor) liquidity (hence concr. a liquid, liquor), cogn. w. liquāre, liquēre, līquī (see LIQUATE, LIQUID). The later Eng. forms have been assimilated graphically to the L. word, without change of pronunciation.
The L. root *līqu- is by some scholars thought to represent a pre-Latin *wlĭq-, found also in Celtic (Irish fliuch, Welsh gwlyb, wet); but this is doubtful.]
† 1. A liquid; matter in a liquid state; occas. in wider sense, a fluid. Obs. in general sense.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 164. Hwo þet bere a deorewurðe licur, oðer a deorewurðe wete, as is bame, in a feble uetles.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21620. Þis cros was men þan wont to se, and it was tald … þat a licure þar-of ran.
1357. Lay Folks Catech., 289. It [baptisme] be done anely in water, For nanothir licour is leuefull tharfore.
1444. Rolls of Parlt., V. 116/2. Vynegre, Oyle, and Hony and all other Lycours gaugeable.
1450–1530. Myrr. our Ladye, 239. Wyth thre lyquores that ys with wepynge teares, wyth blody swette, and wyth blode.
1508. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps. xxxii. Wks. (1876), 41. Parte of theyr payne shall be in a pytte full of brennynge lycour.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. x. 234. Although it [quicksilver] be a liquor, yet is it more heavie then any other mettall.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. ii. 21. Yond same blacke cloud,… lookes like a foule bumbard that would shed his licquor.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 59. Which Veins and Arteries [in the Louse] are so exceeding little, that both they and their Liquor are insensible.
1701. trans. Le Clerc’s Prim. Fathers, 309. He [Prudentius] would have the Soul to be a very subtle Liquor.
¶ Used in the primary Latin sense: Liquid quality, liquidity. Obs. rare.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., v. in Ashm. (1652), 63. Your principall Agent … Which I teach you to knowe by signes fowre, By Colour, Odour, Sapor and Liquore.
b. In somewhat specialized uses: The liquid constituent of a secretion or the like; the liquid product of a chemical operation. Also in various phrases (often translating Lat. names of substances), as liquor of flints = liquor silicum (see 6); liquor of the Hollanders (see quot.); liquor of Libavius, bichloride of tin.
1565. in Satir. Poems Reform., I. 4. I heave not vpe my handes filled wth liquour of gowld, but wth water so muche prysed by Artaxerxes.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 150. If liquor of flints, siliceous potash, be poured into a solution of gold.
1808. Davy, in Phil. Trans., XCIX. 93. The fuming muriate of tin, the Liquor of Libavius, is known to contain dry muriatic acid.
1831. J. Davies, Manual Mat. Med., 305. Treat directly the morphia with diluted sulphuric acid and permit the liquor to crystallize.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 12. The chloride of olefiant gas, usually called Liquor of the Hollanders.
1879. J. M. Duncan, Lect. Dis. Women, xv. (1889), 108. The retained menstrual fluid becomes denser, the liquor being mostly absorbed.
2. A liquid or a prepared solution used as a wash or bath, and in many processes in the industrial arts, e.g., in Tanning, the ooze or tan-water. Iron, red, yellow liquor (see quot. 1839).
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 37. The shoomaker liquoreth his leather, with waterish liquor, kitchen stuffe, and all kinde of baggage mingled togither.
1611. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 161. Paide for wodd and coles for the boylinge of the lecker to the same, xijd.
1691. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 292. The sole invention for dipping of cloth, hats, scarfes, &c. in a certain liquor that shal preserve them to keep out rain.
1730. Southall, Buggs, 14–5. To my Liquor’s being then so strong and oleous, that I durst not venture to liquor the Furniture for fear of damaging it, I at first attributed the coming of those young Buggs.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 307/1. The hides are then put into a pit of strong liquor called ooze or wooze, prepared … by infusing ground bark in water.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 223. The pyrolignite of iron called iron liquor in this country, is the only mordant used in calico-printing for black, violet, puce, and brown colours. The acetate of alumina, prepared from pyrolignous acid, is much used by the calico-printers under the name of red or yellow liquor, being employed for these dyes. Ibid., 1209. Some finely clarified syrup, made from loaf sugar, called liquor by the refiners, is poured … upon the base of each cone.
1883. B. W. Richardson, Field of Disease, 492. In the further process of finishing the snuff … there is what is called sifting ‘the shorts,’ preparatory to adding the ‘liquors,’ viz. salt and water to make weight, and scents to give perfume.
† b. dial. Grease or oil (for lubricating purposes). Obs. (Cf. LIQUOR v. 1.)
1559. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 90. Payd for lycor to lycor the chymes … jd. Ibid. (1584), 167. Item, for a pynte of goose liker, to liker the belles … iijd.
c. Brewing. Water.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, I. vi. 278. The Day before you intend to brew, you should boil a Copper of Liquor, (Water being an improper Term in a Brew-house).
1742. Lond. & Country Brewer, I. (ed. 4), 22. The Liquor (for it is Six-pence Forfeit in the London Brew-house if the Word Water is named).
1880. Times, 2 Oct., 6/1. ‘Liquor’ is the word used, because in brewing it is considered a grave solecism to speak of ‘water.’
3. Liquid for drinking; beverage, drink. Now almost exclusively spec., a drink produced by fermentation or distillation. Malt liquor, liquor brewed from malt; ale, beer, porter, etc. Spirituous liquor, liquor produced by distillation; spirits. Vinous liquor, liquor made from grapes; wine.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13405. Dranc he neuer ar sli licur.
13[?]. Coer de L., 3048. To mete hadde he no savour, To wyn, ne watyr, ne no lycour.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 6763. Na licour sal þai fynd to fele, Þat þair threst mught sleke.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 315. This Maister [a Surgien and Phisicien] … putte a liquour in hire mouth.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. vi. For his chiefe socoure She toke to hym a vyoll with lycoure.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., I. iii. 10. In the whiche they caste wyne, mylke, and other Lycours.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, x. (1870), 252. Water … of the whiche dyuers lycours or drynkes for mannes sustynaunce be made of [sic].
1611. Bible, Num. vi. 3. Neither shal he drinke any liquor of grapes.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 445. Eve … thir flowing cups With pleasant liquors crown’d.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 33. They call it Coffee,… This Liquor is made of a Berry.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 36. A broad Face, from which drops his Proboscis or Trunk…; through its Hollow he sucks his Liquor.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Mar, 10 March. Sherbet … is the liquor they drink at meals.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. xiii. (1840), 227. There were some casks of liquor, whether wine or brandy I knew not.
1765. Phil. Trans., LV. 227. Beer, cyder, champaign, and other Huffy liquors.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 139. Persons afflicted with low spirits,… find more benefit from the use of solid food and generous liquors.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 141. Fruits for the manufacture of fermented liquors.
1842. M. Russell, Polynesia, iii. (1849), 120. Their own laws were strong enough to prevent the manufacture of spirituous liquors at home.
fig. 1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 53. Fruytfull and quycke by the lycour and sappe of charite and grace.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Gal., 16. My sonne Isaac by drynkyng the effectuall lickor of the gospel, shal styll … growe vp, vntill he become a perfite man.
1584. Lodge, Alarum (1879), 44. They … are drunken with the lycour of her abhominations.
1859. FitzGerald, trans. Omar, ii. (1899), 69. Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup Before Life’s Liquor in its Cup be dry.
b. With reference to intoxicating effect. Disguised with liquor = DISGUISED ppl. a. 6. In liquor: in a state of intoxication. To be (the) worse for liquor: to be overcome by drink.
a. 1529. Skelton, Bk. 3 Fools, Wks. 1843, I. 202. Thou hast wylde lycoure, the whiche maketh all thy stomacke to be on a flambe.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 23 a. He is reputed … a boore that will not take his licour profoundly.
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 229. Though the passion for liquor be more brutal and debasing.
1753. Scots Mag., May, 260/2. He was in liquor.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. IV. 110. When he had slept off his liquor.
1871. Smiles, Charac., ix. (1876), 246. He … led her across, not observing that she was in liquor at the time.
1893. Forbes-Mitchell, Remin. Gt. Mutiny, 108. He had never been the worse for liquor in his life.
c. slang. (Chiefly U.S.) A drink (of an intoxicating beverage). Also, a liquor-up.
1860. Lever, One of Them, xxii. If you choose to come in and take a liquor with me.
1872. Echo, 23 Aug. (Farmer). To have,… as the Americans would say, a liquor-up, at the hotel.
1882. Punch, 29 April, 193/2. These ‘nips’ and ‘pegs’ and ‘liquors’ … at all hours of the day were unknown to us.
† d. Used for LIQUEUR. Obs.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XII. 259/2. Liquors of various sorts are compounded and distilled at Montpelier.
4. The water in which meat has been boiled; broth, sauce; the fat in which bacon, fish, or the like has been fried; the liquid contained in oysters.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 11. Þen take þe lycowr of þe bonys, an þe skyn, an þe brothe þat þe Capoun was sothyn ynne.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 303/1. Lycure, or brothe of fysche, and oþer lyke, liquamen.
c. 1450. ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich), 65. Take and seþe verueyne, and betonye, and wermod … & þanne … take þe same erbys … and grynde hem … and tempre hem wyþ þe same licour a ȝeyne.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 382. Looke ye haue good mustarde þer-to [bravne] and good licoure.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), p. xlvii. Oft all the broth & licour fat Is spilt on thy gowne.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. ii. (1840), 30. He … softened them with the liquor of the meat.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, ii. (1767), 49. Take some of the oyster liquor [etc.]. Ibid., 59. Let them grow cold in their own liquor before you serve them up. Ibid., vi. 125. When you boil a leg of pork or a good piece of beef, save the liquor…. Then put in the pork or beef liquor.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 77. Add a little anchovy liquor. Ibid., 115. Put in … a few oysters with their liquor.
1896. Warwicksh. Gloss., Liquor, gravy, the grease of fried bacon, &c.
5. The liquid produced by infusion (in testing the quality of a tea). In liquor, in the state of an infusion.
1870. E. Money, Cultiv. & Manuf. Tea (1878), 111. They judge from three things, first, the Tea; secondly, the liquor; thirdly, the out-turn…. The Liquor.—In taste this should be strong, rasping, and pungent. Ibid., 136. Its [sc. Flowery Pekoe’s] strength in liquor is very great.
1882. Tea Cycl. 224/1. Poor teas of weak liquor.
ǁ 6. The Latin word is used (a) in Pharmacy and Med. in the names of various solutions of medicinal substances in water, as liquor ammoniæ, strong solution of ammonia (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1889); liquor potassæ, an aqueous solution of hydrate of potash; liquor silicum, ‘a compound of silex and salt of tartar, discovered by Van Helmont in 1640, which becomes liquid in a damp moisture’ (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1889). (b) in Physiol., as liquor amnii, the fluid contained in the sac of the amnion; liquor sanguinis, the blood-plasma.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 51. He melted the white sand of Freyenwalde with four times its weight of salt of tartar, and formed a liquor silicum.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot., I. ii. 220. The fluid matter contained within the nucleus is called the liquor amnios [sic].
1846. G. E. Day, trans. Simon’s Anim. Chem., II. 360. The liquor amnii at the sixth month was turbid.
1857. G. Bird, Urin. Deposits (ed. 5), 184. I dissolved a portion of this concretion in liquor potassæ.
1874. Jones & Siev., Pathol. Anat. (ed. 2), 14. Liquor sanguinis consists of a watery solution of certain inorganic salts.
7. attrib. and Comb., as liquor-cistern, -dealer, -gage, glass, -saloon, -seller, -shop, -store, -tent, traffic, vessel; liquor-fired, -seasoned adjs. Also † liquor-back, a kind of vat used in brewing; liquor-pump, ‘a portable pump for emptying casks, etc.’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); also in Sugar-Manuf. (see quot.); liquor-thief, a tube which is let down through the bung-hole of a cask in sampling spirits (Knight).
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 102. Cisterns, Scuppers, *Liquor-Backs.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 765. The cock … above is left open to maintain a communication with the *liquor cistern [in tanning].
1859. H. W. Beecher, Life Thoughts, Ser. II. 70. I can imagine how a *liquor-dealer would feel to own his conversion.
1898. T. Hardy, Wessex Poems, 138. Her *liquor-fired face.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Liquor-gage.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ix. A bottle of … brandy, and a *liquor glass.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1196. In Demerara … it is usual to attach to the [sugar] mill a *liquor-pump. In action, the liquor from the gutter of the mill-bed runs into the cistern of the pump, and is raised … to the gutter which leads to the clarifier or coppers.
1874. D. Macrae, Americans at Home, xl. 320. In *liquor-saloons and gambling-houses.
1884. Mag. of Art, March, 215/2. Some … getting *liquor-seasoned as they grow older.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. xiii. (Rtldg.), 15. A *Liquor-shop.
1815. Ann. Reg., Chron., 46. Mr. Henry Beer’s *liquor-store.
1889. T. Hardy, Mayor of Casterbr., i. The licensed *liquor-tent.
1901. 19th Cent., Oct., 538. The illicit *liquor-traffic had been absolutely stopped.
1608. R. Norton, trans. Stevin’s Disme, D iij. Of Gaudging, and the measures of all *Liquor vessels.
Hence Liquordom nonce-wd.
1892. Farrar, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 545. In the sense in which it is incessantly used by the defenders of liquordom.
