beer

From Middle English bere, from Old English bēor (“beer”), from Proto-Germanic *beuzą (“beer”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰews-, *bews- (“dross, sediment, brewer's yeast”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bjoor (“beer”), West Frisian bier (“beer”), German Low German Beer (“beer”), Dutch bier (“beer”), German Bier (“beer”), Icelandic bjór (“beer”), Swedish buska (“freshly brewed beer, new beer”), bira (“beer”), Middle Dutch & Middle Low German būsen (“to feast, booze, drink heavily”), Middle High German būs (“a swelling”). Non-Germanic cognates include probably Albanian mbush (“to fill, stuff”).

• IPA^(key): /bɪə(ɹ)/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɪə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bɪɹ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (near–square merger) IPA^(key): /bɛə/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)
• Homophone: bier

beer (countable and uncountable, plural beers)

1. (uncountable) An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt, often with hops or some other substance to impart a bitter flavor.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:beer

   Beer is brewed all over the world.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
       Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […] ”

2. (uncountable) A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc.
3. (uncountable) A solution produced by steeping plant materials in water or another fluid.
4. (countable) A glass, bottle, or can of any of the above beverages.

   I bought a few beers from the shop for the party.

   Can I buy you a beer?

   I'd like two beers and a glass of white wine.

5. (countable) A variety of the above beverages.

   Pilsner is one of the most commonly served beers in Europe.

   I haven't tried this beer before.

Pages starting with "beer".

• Tok Pisin: bia
• → Alabama: biya
• → Bengali: বিয়ার (biyar)
• → Burmese: ဘီယာ (bhiya)
• → Chinese: 啤酒 (píjiǔ)
• → Hausa: biya
• → Hawaiian: bia
• → Hindi: बियर (biyar)
• → Khmer: បៀរ (biə)
• → Maori: pia
• → Malay: bir
• → Swahili: bia
• → Telugu: బీరు (bīru)
• → Thai: เบียร์ (biia)

beer (third-person singular simple present beers, present participle beering, simple past and past participle beered)

1. (informal, transitive) To give beer to (someone)
   • 1870, Sidney Daryl, His First Brief. A Comedietta in Clement Scott, Drawing-room Plays and Parlour Pantomimes, Robson and Sons, pages 303–304:

     No doubt he then can feed us, wine us, beer us, And cook us something that can warm and cheer us.

   • 2010, Steve Brezenhoff, The Absolute Value of -1, Carolrhoda Lab, page 121:

     “Beer me!” said Goody. “Also your weed is shit. Where’s the good stuff, dude?”

   • 2013, Janet E. Cameron, Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World, Hatchette Books Ireland, page 124:

     I heard Patty Marsh yelling, ‘Beer him, Eleanor!’

   • 2013, R. D. Power, Forbidden, page 39:

     “Beer me!” To his astonishment she obeyed his command, appearing a minute later with a glass of beer and a wry smile.

From Middle English beere, equivalent to be +‎ -er.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbi.ɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbiː.ə/

beer (plural beers)

1. One who is or exists.
   • 1990, Budge Wilson, “Be-ers and Doers”, in The leaving, and other stories:

     That meant, among other things, that he was going to be a fast-moving doer. And even when he was three or four, it wasn't hard for me to know that this wasn't going to be easy. Because Albert was a beer. Born that way.

• afterbear
• forebear

• Bree, Eber, Reeb, bere, bree, eber, reeb

From Dutch beer.

beer (plural bere, diminutive beertjie)

1. bear

• IPA^(key): /beːr/, [bɪːr]

• audio

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• Hyphenation: beer
• Rhymes: -eːr

From Middle Dutch bēre, from Old Dutch *bero, from Proto-Germanic *berô.

beer m (plural beren, diminutive beertje n)

1. bear, any member of the family Ursidae
2. (figuratively) person who is physically impressive and/or crude

   Wat een beer van een vent daar voorin, he?

   What a bear of a guy there in front, huh?

• berebijt
• beregoed
• bereklauw
• berenjacht
• berenkuil
• berenleider
• berenmuts
• beren op de weg zien
• berenval
• berin
• ijsberen
• brilbeer
• bruine beer
• grijze beer
• grizzlybeer
• honingbeer
• ijsbeer
• kermodebeer
• lippenbeer
• neusbeer
• pandabeer
• poolbeer
• wasbeer
• zwarte beer

Een beer of steunbeer. — A buttress.

From Middle Dutch bêer, from Old Dutch *bēr, from Proto-Germanic *bairaz.

beer m (plural beren, diminutive beertje n)

1. boar (male swine)
2. buttress; protective external construction, notably against ice or supporting the weight of the main building

• beervarken
• de beer is los
• steunbeer

beer m (plural beren, diminutive beertje n)

1. liquid manure (excrement gathered in a pit to fertilize)

• beerput

Borrowed from German Bär. Cognate to etymology 1.

beer m (plural beren)

1. (college slang) debt

   Synonym: schuld

2. (college slang) creditor (one to whom one owes debt)

   Synonym: schuldeiser

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

beer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of beō

From Middle Dutch bier, from Old Dutch bier, from Proto-Germanic *beuzą.

beer n

1. beer
2. any alcoholic drink

• The dative and accusative are obsolete nowadays, the nominative is used instead.

From Old Dutch *bēr, from Proto-Germanic *bairaz.

bêer m

1. boar, male pig

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: beer
• West Flemish: beir

• “beer”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “bere (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Vulgar Latin *badō (“I am open”).

beer

1. (transitive) to open
2. (intransitive) to open
3. (chiefly) to pant; to breathe heavily
4. (figuratively) to desire; to lust for

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

• → English: bay
• French: bayer, béer

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (beer)