Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.
- n. A drink of such liquor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. See whisky, whiskified.
Wiktionary
- n. Ireland, US A liquor distilled from thefermented mash of grain (as rye, corn, or barley).
- n. Ireland, US A drink of whiskey.
- n. The letter W in the ICAO spelling alphabet.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Same as whisky, a liquor.
- n. A light carriage built for rapid motion; -- called also
tim-whiskey .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a liquor made from fermented mash of grain
Etymologies
- From Irish uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha lit. 'water of life' (compare aquavit, from Latin aqua vitae). (Wiktionary)
- Shortening and alteration of usquebaugh. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Minnesota, an early adopter of such a law, uses the letter "W"—hence the term "whiskey plate"—on a plain white background.”
The Wall Street Journal: Some Call Tags for Drunk Drivers Wrong Turn
“As also they have learned from the pale face the direful use of the fire-water, as they term whiskey, which is destroying thousands.”
“Thady calls it their whiskey; not that the whiskey is actually the property of the tenants, but that it becomes their right, after it has been often given to them.”
“And the Live Journal spellcheck seems to believe that all "whiskey" is Irish.”
“In theory, vintage sports stories steeped in whiskey and cigar smoke, shipped straight from the Corona to the front page of the late edition, are worth revisiting.”
“While it's excellent for sipping, I could see using Matusalem as a substitute spirit in whiskey-based cocktails.”
“Yes, the distilled spirit known as moonshine, white lightning, white dog or simply white whiskey is the liquor of the moment, bringing together whiskey geeks, home distillers and high-end mixologists, all of whom find in the formerly clandestine rotgut a new means of expression, both for their palates and their politics.”
The Moonshine Revolution – Why White Whiskey is Making a Comeback | Impact Lab
“The best way to drink whiskey is not unaged like that.”
The Moonshine Revolution – Why White Whiskey is Making a Comeback | Impact Lab
“Old whiskey is just fine as long as it stays corked.”
“A shivery gray fellow named Hyppo, the Hypothermic Hippopotamus (see below), who sips whiskey from a flask and angrily fires wool socks into the crowd.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘whiskey’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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Words sung by: Belle and Sebastian
beguiling, herbaceous, peninsula, suffragette, damascan, hastening, berserk, overtime, leccy, bestow, swathe, arab strap and 193 more...
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Vendance Is Mine
Vot? Stuff dispensed from vending machines. Don't ask vhy.
p.s. Generic, no brand names please.bubblegum, soft drinks, cigarettes, coffee, muesli bars, phone cards, stale peanuts, chicken salad san..., cheeseburger, peanut butter coo..., an original work ..., amaretto-flavored... and 62 more...
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Gillian Welch, revelator
Gillian Welch, acony bell, time, revelator, barroom girls, bright morning stars, yesterday's pearls, last night's span..., David Rawlings, archtop guitar, ruination, revival and 43 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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Foodie
As much fun to say as they are to eat.
blueberry, cider, almond, apricot, asparagus, banana, fudge, foldover, flapjacks, filbert, fig, biscuit and 217 more...
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Lively Words
quick, quicksilver, cwic, quitch grass, cwice, vivify, viviparous, viper, weever, wyvern, viand, victual and 148 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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Words and phrases of Irish origin, or...
not necessarily eponyms, but might be
boycott, blarney, banshee, galore, keen, donnybrook, colleen, drumlin, phoney, clan, cairn, ceili and 122 more...
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Words
Words I like.
jejune, eunoia, swallow, spelunk, milquetoast, echolalia, trumble, toothsome, synecdoche, taciturn, kerfuffle, aleatoric and 98 more...
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mccaff's Words
schadenfreude, defenestration, monogamous, epipsychidion, chintz, befall, brouhaha, shenanigans, hooligans, lambasted, servitude, portcullis and 113 more...
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sputnik
canoodle, span, hasten, discombobulate, sputnik, clod, encrusted, spit-shine, zeitgeist, landslide, laid, cherish and 350 more...
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The Pogues
transmetropolitan, lecher, queer, shite, whore, bastard, spew, bloody, waxie's dargle, farthing, pint, races and 91 more...
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Tulip Names I
No rhyme or reason other than that I like the names. :-) For more flower fun, see these lists:
Rose words by mollusque
Rose varieties by mollusque
Tulip Names II: You Know ...abbey dream, abbey road, abodement, abra, abra elite, academician tstisin, acapulco, ace of diamonds, acropolis, ad hoc, adamo, addis and 597 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for whiskey.
sarra Oh, god, oro, that's awful and wonderful. Oct 21, 2010
oroboros She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still. Oct 21, 2008
bilby Reference in c_b's citation is to larger-than-life Irish writer Brendan Behan. And I think he'd roar with laughter at finding that his name first appears here on whiskey. Oct 7, 2008
chained_bear Last night as I slept, I dreamt I met with Behan
I shook him by the hand and we passed the time of day
When questioned on his views, on the crux of life's philosophies
He had for me these clear and simple words to say:
I am going, I am going
Any which way the wind may be blowing
I am going, I am going
Where streams of whiskey are flowing
I have cursed, bled and sworn, jumped bail and landed up in jail
Life has often tried to stretch me but the rope always went slack
And now that I've a pile, I'll go down to the Chelsea
I'll walk in on my feet, but I'll leave there on my back.
Oh the words that he spoke seemed the wisest of philosophies--
There was nothing ever gained by a wet thing called a tear.
When the world is too dark and I need the light inside of me,
I'll walk into a bar...and drink fifteen pints of beer.
Because I'm going, I am going
Any which way the wind may be blowing
I am going, I am going
Where streams of whiskey are flowing,
Where streams of whiskey are flowing.
("Streams of Whiskey," the Pogues.) Oct 31, 2007
sionnach from the Irish, uisce beatha, meaning water of life, or aquavit. A related word is the more archaic usquebaugh. The Scots Gaelic term, uisge beatha, is very similar to the Irish. Feb 19, 2007