whiskey

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“
"This whiskey is the real deal," he said.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.
  2. noun A drink of such liquor.
  3. Word History
    Many connoisseurs of fine whiskey wouldn't dream of contaminating their libations with water, but they really can't avoid it. Not only is water used in distilling whiskey, but the words whiskey and water share a common Indo-European root, *wed-, "water, wet.” This root could appear in several guises, as *wed-, *wod-, or *ud-. Water is a native English word that goes back by way of prehistoric Common Germanic *watar to the Indo-European suffixed form *wod-ōr, with an o. Whiskey is a shortened form of usquebaugh, which English borrowed from Irish Gaelic uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha. This compound descends from Old Irish uisce, "water,” and bethad, "of life,” and meaning literally "water of life.” (It thus meant the same thing as the name of another drink, aquavit, which comes from Latin aqua vītae, "water of life.”) Uisce comes from the Indo-European suffixed form *ud-skio-. Finally, the name of another alcoholic drink, vodka, comes into English from Russian, where it means literally "little water,” as it is a diminutive of voda, "water”—a euphemism if ever there was one. Voda comes from the same Indo-European form as English water, but is differently suffixed: *wod-ā. Whiskey, water, and vodka—etymology can mix a potent cocktail.

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Examples

  • It was too early by Peter's standards for a whiskey, and Alderscroft never touched the stuff so far as Peter knew, but toying with quarter-filled glasses made their conversation look casual and ordinary, should anyone unexpected come past them. —  The Serpent's Shadow
  • Faster went the music, for the whiskey was at work in Peter's noddle, and wilder grew the dance. —  Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Volume 03 : on and near the Delaware
  • This whiskey is a monster - there are very few like it in the world, and in the absence of the 15yo which now appears to be no longer on the market anywhere, not even on auction sites (that's because everyone who's bought it couldn't resist drinking it), this is the one you want to discover Irish pure pot still whiskey Eddu Silver: On the Malt Maniacs mailing list, I recently asked if whisky from Brittany still tasted like paint thinner, and someone pointed me to this whisky as a very good one. —  Planet GNOME
  • The net tumbled over-board. —  Stormwarden
  • "This whiskey is the real deal," he said. —  News for Lynchburg News Advance
 

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Words tagged whiskey

bead · beer · boiler · charge · pumice · still · worm · mash · puke · gauger · singlings · thumper · boilermaker · stillhouse · depth charge · blackpot

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Whiskey has been looked up 373 times, favorited once, listed 27 times, and commented on 4 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Shortening and alteration of usquebaugh.
 

Pronunciations
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/ˈhwɪski/
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