Forms: 1–3 béor (bear), 3–4 ber, 4 bor, 5–7 bere, beere, 6 bier, Sc. beir, 6–7 bear(e, 6– beer. [Common WGer.: OE. béor = OHG. bior, MHG. and mod.G. bier, MLG. bêr, MDu. and Du. bier, all neut.; cf. also ON. bjor-r masc. Etymology uncertain.
The OTeut. form might be *beuro-(m), f. *beuwo- barley (whence ON. bygg: see BIGG); Kögel, taking the same derivation, has suggested as the Gothic form *biggwis:—OTeut. *beuwiz-; Sievers points out that one of the other forms of the neuter suffix -os, -es, -s, viz. *beuwoz-, or rather *beuwz- would better account for the WGer. forms. Others (see Kluge) have thought of a connection with brew (taking beuro- as for *breuro-). Franck’s suggestion of an Aryan *bhur- ‘to ferment’ seems unwarranted, there being no known Aryan roots in -ur.]
1. An alcoholic liquor obtained by the fermentation of malt (or other saccharine substance), flavored with hops or other aromatic bitters. Formerly distinguished from ale by being hopped; but now the generic name of malt liquor, including ale and porter, though sometimes restricted and used in contradistinction to ale. The word occurs in OE., but its use is rare, except in poetry, and it seems to have become common only in the 16th c. as the name of hopped malt liquor. Not in Chaucer or Piers Ploughman. See further under ALE.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke i. 15. He ne drincð wín ne béor [Lindisf. and Rushw. bear].
c. 1205. Lay., 8124. Weoren þa bernes iscængte mid beore.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1009. Hi nabbeth noth win ne bor.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 128. Good ber and bryȝt wyn boþe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 31. Bere, a drynke, hummuli potus, aut cervisia hummulina.
1502. Arnold, Chron. (1811), 247. X. quarters malte, ij quarters wheet, ij quarters ootes, xl. ll’ weight of hoppys. To make lx. barellis of sengyll beer.
a. 1529. Skelton, El Rummyng, in Harl. Misc., I. 415 (D.). The Dutchman’s strong beere Was not hopt over heere.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 583. With Marche aill and also doubill beir.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, x. 256. Bere is made of malte, of hoppes, and water: it is a naturall drynke for a Dutche man. And nowe of late dayes it is moche vsed in Englande to the detryment of many Englysshe men.
1570. Levins, Manip., 84. Bere, potus lupinatus.
1574. R. Scot, Hop Gard. (1578), 6. If the controuersie be betwixt Beere and Ale, which of them two shall have ye place of preheminence?
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 17. In barrels of Bier.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. ii. 7. Doth it not show vildely in me, to desire small Beer?
1620. Venner, Via Recta, ii. 36. Ale by reason of the grossenesse of the substance of it … is more nourishing then Beere.
1641. Baker, Chron. (1696), 298. Turkeys, carps, hops, piccadel, and beer, Came into England all in one year.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., II. liv. Since Beer hath hopp’d in among us, Ale is thought to be much adulterated.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 119. A beer was made by the Germans … from oats and wheat.
1883. Prof. Gardner, in Sci. Amer., 28 July, 56/3. The present proper definition of beer may be as follows: ‘A saccharine fluid flavored with hops, or other aromatic bitters, which has been rendered alcoholic by fermentation.’
b. Buttered beer: see ALE 4. Small beer: weak beer; hence fig. trifling matters, small things, as in the colloquial phrase To think no small beer of oneself. To be in beer: to be under the effects of beer, to be more or less intoxicated.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 423/1. I stande in so great peryll of chokyng with lucre, as Tindal standeth in daunger of choking with the bones of buttred beere.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 161. To suckle fooles, and chronicle small Beere.
1631. J. Rous, Diary (1856), 66. Warren (that was in beere) … urged upon the maide to ride behinde him.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 269, ¶ 8. I allow a double Quantity of Malt to my small Beer.
1840. De Quincey, Style, Wks. XI. 174. Should express her self-esteem by the popular phrase, that she did not ‘think small beer of herself.’
1880. Academy, 25 Sept., 219. Two such chroniclers of small beer as Boswell and Erskine.
2. Applied to fermented liquors of various kinds, or flavored by various ingredients, as nettle beer, spruce beer, tar beer, treacle beer, GINGER BEER.
a. 1100. Ags. Gloss., in Wülcker, Voc., 329. Ydromellum vel mulsum, beor.
1656. Ridgley, Pract. Physic, 102. The beer of the decoction of Camomil flowers is miraculous.
1850. T. Smith, Terebinth. Med., 61. Beverage, pale ale, dandelion beer, spruce beer.
II. Comb. and Attrib.
3. General relations: a. objective gen. with vbl. sb. or agent-noun, as beer-bibber, -bibbing, -brewer, -brewing, -buttering, -carrier, -drinker, -drinking, -monger, -seller, -soaking; b. instrumental with pa. pple., as beer-bemuddled; c. attrib. (of, made of or with, beer), as beer-broth, -posset, -soup, -stain, yeast; d. attrib. (of, for, or connected with the manufacture, sale or use of beer), as beer-barrel, -cellar, -gallon, -shop, -vat.
a. 1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xiii. To be looked upon as a common pipe-smoker, *beer-bibber.
1465. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 201. My mastyr payd to Clayson *berebrewer of Herewyche, for iiij. barelles of bere … vj. viij.d.
1565. Jewell, Def. Apol. (1611), 295. This Thomas Beckets Father was a Iew, and a Béere-Brewer of London.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 179. The drink is supplied by two beer-brewers.
a. 1628. F. Greville, Sidney (1652), 24. The Burgesses of that *beer-brewing town [Delft].
1598. Marston, Pygmal., ii. 147. From Belgia what? but their deep bezeling, Their boote-carouse, and their *Beere-buttering.
1664. Killigrew, Parson’s Wed., I. iii. By the way of a country-gentleman and a *beer-drinker.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, iii. 121. A bounty on unthrift … and *beer-drinking.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 321. *Beere-mongers, Inne-keepers and Tapsters.
b. 1851. Kingsley, Yeast, xiii. 238. Afraid of the jealousy of some *beer-bemuddled swain.
c. 1648. Herrick, Hesper., II. 176. He Must not vary, From *beer-broth at all.
1842. Mrs. Gore, Fascin., 109. Having eaten a slice of cold venison, with a basin of *beer-posset.
1857. Eliza Acton, Eng. Bread-Bk., II. § 3. 121. For two pounds of flour half an ounce … of *beer-yeast is used.
d. 1603. Shaks., Ham., V. i. 235. Why of that Lome might they not stopp a *Beere barrel?
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., IV. Unless you’d have the poor devil soused in a beer-barrel.
1865. Baring-Gould, Were-wolves, v. 54. They burst into the *beer-cellars.
1661. S. Partridge, Double Sc. Proport., 68. To know how many Ale or *Beer-gallons are in it, divide 24839, 56 the content in inches.
1848. Kingsley, Saint’s Trag., I. ii. 44. Poor men give them [priests] Their power at the Church and take it back at the *beer-shop.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VI. vi. 356. Thou laggard sonorous *Beer-vat [Santerre] … is it time now to palter?
4. Special combinations: † beer-bombard, a large can or vessel for holding beer; beer-chiller, a funnel-shaped pot made of tin, used to warm, or ‘take off the chill’ of beer over the fire; beer-cooler, a large shallow vat for cooling beer; beer-corn, grain used for brewing; beer-engine, a machine for drawing or pumping up beer from the casks to the bar; beer-faucet, a machine for injecting air into flat beer to make it foam; beer-float, a hydrometer for ascertaining the density of beer-wash; beer-fountain (= beer-engine); beer-garden, a garden attached to an inn for the consumption of beer; beer-glass, a glass holding half a pint; a tumbler; beer-heading, a mixture intended to revive flat beer; † beer-horse, a brewer’s horse; beer-house, a house licensed for the sale of beer, but not of spirits; beer-machine (= beer-engine); beer-money, an allowance of money to servants, instead of beer; beer-pot, now a pewter vessel holding a quart or a pint, formerly probably made of wooden staves, and hooped; beer-pull, the handle of a beer-engine; beer-pump (= beer-engine); beer-tray, a tray fitted with two upright ends, and an upright division from one to the other, so as to hold two rows of beer pots; beer-vinegar, vinegar made from beer (cf. BEEREGAR).
a. 1652. Brome, Jov. Crew, I. 362. We have unloaden the Bread-basket, the Beef-kettle, and the *Beer-Bumbards.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz (1850), 145/2. Until … the little *beer-chiller on the fire, had started into life.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., I. 15. A due proportion between the mault and other *beer-corn.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 78. Pliable composition tube, employed by the makers of *beer engines.
1839. Mrs. Gore, Courtier, etc. II. 92. Restrict yourself to one visit per month to the Rainbow *Beer-gardens.
1884. Harper’s Mag., Jan., 299/1. The bowling-ally is … an adjunct of what is known as a beer garden.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 36. The aptest glasses … were streight upright ones, like to our long *beere glasses.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4391/3. A Silver cup … the Form of a Beer-Glass.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 178. The butler and the *béere horse both be like one. They drawe béere both.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 658. The Kentysshemen … robbyd and spoyled the Flemynges, and all the *bere-howses.
1864. Derby Mercury, 7 Dec., 3/3. A beer-house keeper named Blundell, had been convicted of selling beer during the prohibited hours on Sunday.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 90. There is *beer-money allowed,… and that makes nearly a shilling per week additional.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 42. She was made lyke a *béere pot, or a barell.
1864. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. vi. 46. Polite *beer-pulls that made low bows.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 9. A *beare Pumpe.
1863. Smiles, Indust. Biogr., 191. Another popular machine of his is the beer-pump, patented in 1797.
1862. Mayhew, Crim. Prisons, 183. *Beer-trays—such as the London pot-boys use for the conveyance of the mid-day porter.
1672. Davenant, Ballad, Wks. (1673), 339. Sack which like *Beer-Vinegar looks.
