beer

noun

ˈbir 

1

: a carbonated, fermented alcoholic beverage that is usually made from malted cereal grain (especially barley), is flavored with hops, and typically contains less than a 5% alcohol content compare ale, craft beer, lager entry 1, malt liquor sense 2

2

: a carbonated nonalcoholic or a fermented slightly alcoholic beverage with flavoring from roots or other plant parts

birch beer

3

: fermented mash

4

: a drink of beer

Examples of beer in a Sentence

Would you like beer with dinner?

The pub brews its own beer.

I'll have a beer, please.

a couple of cold beers

a glass of birch beer

Recent Examples on the Web

Strange Taste Alcohol, especially that with carbonation (think beer, sparkling wine, and seltzers), can taste flat over time. —Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 13 May 2025

More than 1,000 people are involved with the food and beverage experience, which is expected to go through 15,000 cases of beer, 5,600 bottles of vodka and 3,200 bottles of bourbon throughout the week. —Shane Connuck, Charlotte Observer, 13 May 2025

Regardless of this renaissance in wine, fruit distillates still remain popular in the country, even more so than wine, beer or vodka. —Tom Mullen, Forbes.com, 11 May 2025

Lunch was a Cornish beer and a superb mortadella sandwich at the Roundhouse, a tiny café housed in a Victorian-era toll booth whose owner bakes his own focaccia. —Rosecrans Baldwin, Travel + Leisure, 11 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ber, going back to Old English bēor, akin to Old High German bior "beer," Old Norse bjórr; perhaps all going back to a dissimilated form of Germanic *breura-, a nominal derivative of *brewwan- "to brew entry 1"

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing beer

• beer and skittles
• beer belly
• beer goggles
• beer gut
• beer mat
• beer pong
• craft beer
• ginger beer
• lager beer
• near beer
• root beer
• small beer
• spruce beer

Rhymes for beer

• bier
• cheer
• clear
• dear
• deer
• drear
• ear
• fear
• fier
• gear
• hear
• here

Kids Definition

beer

noun

ˈbi(ə)r 

1

: an alcoholic drink made from malt and flavored with hops

2

: a nonalcoholic drink made from roots or other parts of plants

birch beer