John Barleycorn

A personification of alcoholic liquor.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

John Barleycorn

usually jocular the personification of alcohol, esp of malt spirits

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

John′ Bar′leycorn

a personification of alcoholic liquor.

[1610–20]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

John Barleycorn - an alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented

booze, hard drink, hard liquor, liquor, spirits, strong drink

alcohol, alcoholic beverage, alcoholic drink, inebriant, intoxicant - a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent; "alcohol (or drink) ruined him"

aqua vitae, ardent spirits - strong distilled liquor or brandy

akvavit, aquavit - Scandinavian liquor usually flavored with caraway seeds

arak, arrack - any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy palms or from fermented molasses

bitters - alcoholic liquor flavored with bitter herbs and roots

brandy - distilled from wine or fermented fruit juice

gin - strong liquor flavored with juniper berries

ouzo - a Greek liquor flavored with anise

rum - liquor distilled from fermented molasses

schnapps, schnaps - any of various strong liquors especially a Dutch spirit distilled from potatoes

mescal - a colorless Mexican liquor distilled from fermented juices of certain desert plants of the genus Agavaceae (especially the century plant)

tequila - Mexican liquor made from fermented juices of an agave plant

vodka - unaged colorless liquor originating in Russia

whiskey, whisky - a liquor made from fermented mash of grain

firewater - any strong spirits (such as strong whisky or rum)

lacing - a small amount of liquor added to a food or beverage

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"It is the wives, and sisters, and mothers, and they only, who will drive the nails into the coffin of John Barleycorn "

"But I thought you were a friend to John Barleycorn," Charmian interpolated.

John Barleycorn was on a truth-telling rampage, giving away the choicest secrets on himself.

Yet when I walk with John Barleycorn I suffer all the damnation of intellectual pessimism.

"But," I hastened to add (I always hasten to add), "John Barleycorn must have his due.

"The 'Memoirs of an Alcoholic,'" I sneered--or, rather, John Barleycorn sneered; for he sat with me there at table in my pleasant, philanthropic jingle, and it is a trick of John Barleycorn to turn the smile to a sneer without an instant's warning.

"No," said Charmian, ignoring John Barleycorn's roughness, as so many women have learned to do.

View in context

(As Phil Georgeff would say, "Can't split em.") Die-hard Pale Hoser Rich Roeper was an energizing addition to Roe Conn's WGN-AM (720) crew from John Barleycorn's before Tuesday's Sox-Cubs opener.

O'Donnell: Michael Jordan to Eloy Jimenez - tales behind two mammoth arrivals

One hundred years later, Jack London recounted his struggle with alcoholism in John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs (1913), and Aleister Crowley wrote a thinly fictionalized account of his heroin addiction in Diary of a Drug Fiend (1922).

The Addiction Memoir

WEDNESDAY Back C4, 10pm In the final episode, Andrew has completed transforming the John Barleycorn into a huge success with a brilliant new look and a talented French chef.

7 WORTH STAYING IN FOR

In 1862, the Lodges sold up at Menangle and moved to Goulburn where they purchased the ailing John Barleycorn Inn, which they hoped to renovate.

HENRY CURRAN, BUSHRANGERS, AND A BOOROWA DREAM

The powers of John Barleycorn: beliefs about the effects of alcohol on social behavior.