liquor

• liquour (obsolete)

From Middle English licour, from Anglo-Norman licour, from Latin liquor (“fluidity, liquidness, a fluid, a liquid”), from liquere (“to be fluid or liquid”); see liquid. Doublet of liqueur.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪk.ə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪk.ɚ/
• Homophone: licker
• Rhymes: -ɪkə(ɹ)

liquor (countable and uncountable, plural liquors)

1. (obsolete) A liquid, a fluid.
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:

     Thus Water also, or any other Liquor, included in a convenient vessel, by being warmed, manifestly expands it self with a very great violence […]

   • 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 1:

     Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
     I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
     "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
     Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."

2. (obsolete) A drinkable liquid.
3. A liquid obtained by cooking meat or vegetables (or both).

   Synonyms: stock, (American English) pot liquor, broth, bouillon

4. (UK, cooking) A parsley sauce commonly served with traditional pies and mash.
5. (chiefly US, Canada, Australia) Strong alcoholic drink derived from fermentation and distillation; more broadly, any alcoholic drink.

   Synonyms: (British and Australasian English) spirits, hard liquor, hard drink, strong drink, aqua vitae, water of life

   • 1879, Chas. McArmor, The New Handbook of Vienna […] ‎^[1], 2nd edition, Otto Maass, page 106:

     Here the proprietor has had the good sense of holding on to the good old fashion of giving his customers their moneyworth of good wines and liquors.

6. In process industry, a liquid in which a desired reaction takes place, e.g. pulping liquor is a mixture of chemicals and water which breaks wood into its components, thus facilitating the extraction of cellulose.
7. A liquid in which something has been steeped.

It has been requested that this entry be merged with spirits(+).

liquor (third-person singular simple present liquors, present participle liquoring, simple past and past participle liquored)

1. (intransitive) To drink liquor, usually to excess.
2. (transitive) To cause someone to drink liquor, usually to excess.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To grease.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:

     Liquor fishermen's boots.

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     cart-wheels squeak not when they are liquored

• liquored up

• “liquor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “liquor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

From liqueō (“I am liquid, fluid”) +‎ -or.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈli.kʷor/, [ˈlʲɪkʷɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.kwor/, [ˈliːkwor]

liquor m (genitive liquōris); third declension

1. fluidity, liquidity
2. liquid, fluid

Third-declension noun.

• Catalan: licor
• French: liqueur
• → Romanian: licoare
• Italian: liquore
• Occitan: liquor
• Russian: ликёр (likjór)
• Sicilian: licori m
• Spanish: licor m

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.kʷor/, [ˈlʲiːkʷɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.kwor/, [ˈliːkwor]

līquor (present infinitive līquī); third conjugation, deponent, no perfect or supine stem

1. (intransitive) to be fluid or liquid
2. (intransitive) to flow
3. (intransitive) to melt, dissolve

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈli.kʷor/, [ˈlʲɪkʷɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.kwor/, [ˈliːkwor]

liquor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of liquō

• “līquor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lĭquor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “liquor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• liquor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “liquor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.