whiskey

whis·key also whis·ky  (hwsk, ws-)

n. pl. whis·keys also whis·kies

1. An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.

2. A drink of such liquor.

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[Shortening and alteration of usquebaugh.]

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-r, 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 vtae, "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-. Whiskey, water, and vodkaetymology can mix a potent cocktail.

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whiskey

Noun

Irish or American whisky

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

whiskey - a liquor made from fermented mash of grain whisky booze, hard drink, hard liquor, John Barleycorn, liquor, spirits, strong drink - an alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented blended whiskey, blended whisky - mixture of two or more whiskeys or of a whiskey and neutral spirits bourbon - whiskey distilled from a mash of corn and malt and rye and aged in charred oak barrels corn whiskey, corn whisky, corn - whiskey distilled from a mash of not less than 80 percent corn Irish whiskey, Irish whisky, Irish - whiskey made in Ireland chiefly from barley rye whiskey, rye whisky, rye - whiskey distilled from rye or rye and malt Scotch malt whiskey, Scotch malt whisky, Scotch whiskey, Scotch whisky, malt whiskey, malt whisky, Scotch - whiskey distilled in Scotland; especially whiskey made from malted barley in a pot still sour mash whiskey, sour mash - any whiskey distilled from sour mash manhattan - a cocktail made with whiskey and sweet vermouth with a dash of bitters old fashioned - a cocktail made of whiskey and bitters and sugar with fruit slices whiskey sour, whisky sour - a sour made with whiskey