whiskey

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“
But most of the whiskey is aged there, and we got sample some of better brands in their gorgeous tasting room.

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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 (50)

  • But the whiskey is the real thing, so I pour out half a glass and gulp it down. —  Beach Road
  • The whiskey, which is one of the last good things in life, rolled my gut, but was worth the roll. —  F ;SF; - vol 091 issue 01 - July 1996
  • I prefer to think I've become a polyandrous lover of sleazy, whiskey-soaked saloons-rotgut whiskey is the route to my heart. —  New York Press
  • Please send me a couple of bottles of whiskey, and let me know all about the fawn That was all; and Mr. Whippleton wanted but two things--whiskey and information in regard to the fawn. —  Desk and Debit or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk
  • "Low wines I'll gin ye up;" he made the discrimination in accents betokening much reasonable admission; "but nare time does the Bible name whiskey, nor yit peach brandy, nor apple-jack Nor cider nor beer," put in an unexpected recruit from the darkness The miller was silent for a moment, and gave token of succumbing to this unexpected polemic strength. —  The Moonshiners At Hoho-Hebee Falls 1895
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Words tagged whiskey

backins · thumper · double run · beading oil · teedum · blackpot · bead · beer · thumper keg · thump barrel · worm

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This word has been looked up 197 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/
by American Heritage

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