Library / English Dictionary

BEER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A general name for alcoholic beverages made by fermenting a cereal (or mixture of cereals) flavored with hops

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("beer" is a kind of...):

brew; brewage (drink made by steeping and boiling and fermenting rather than distilling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beer"):

draft beer; draught beer (beer drawn from a keg)

suds (a dysphemism for beer (especially for lager that effervesces))

lager; lager beer (a general term for beer made with bottom fermenting yeast (usually by decoction mashing); originally it was brewed in March or April and matured until September)

ale (a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the United States an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume)

Derivation:

beery (smelling of beer)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A drink, including beer, wine or liquor, that is made by fermentation of raw materials.

(Alcoholic Beverage, NCI Thesaurus)

A question about whether an individual drinks alcohol, such as beer or wine.

(Drinks Alcohol Such as Beer or Wine, NCI Thesaurus)

“Some cold beef and a glass of beer,” he answered, ringing the bell.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I heard that the table beer was a robbery of parents, and the pudding an imposition.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I don't remember the last time—but that was the beer.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

When they were done we threw down some flowers, and saw them scramble for them, kiss their hands to the invisible ladies, and go laughing away, to smoke and drink beer, I suppose.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

We had got as far as this, when who should walk in but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking his beer in the tap-room and had heard the whole conversation.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When they were sitting at dinner and had eaten, the mother said: “Elsie, go into the cellar and fetch some beer.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The upper safe limit of drinking was about five drinks per week (100g of pure alcohol, 12.5 units or just over five pints of 4% ABV beer or five 175ml glasses of 13% ABV wine).

(Drinking more than five pints a week could shorten your life, University of Cambridge)

"Guess I'll go down an' get a glass of beer," Joe said, in the queer, monotonous tones that marked his week-end collapse.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)