beverage

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English beverage, also buverage and berage,^[2] borrowed from Old French bevrage, also buverage,^[3][4][2] and Anglo-Norman beverage,^[5][6][7] now breuvage.^[3][4][8] The French noun is formed with the suffix -age^[6][9][5] from beivre (“to drink”), also boivre and bevre,^{[10][9][8][11]} which the OED takes as the noun "drinking", the verb used as a noun.^[3] The Latin type of the formation is Vulgar Latin *biberāticum (“something to drink”),^[3][12][13] from Latin bibō (“to drink”),^[10][12][6] from Proto-Indo-European *po(i)- (“to drink”).^[6][10] It is a common Romance word: compare Old Occitan beurage, Spanish bebrage, Portuguese beberagem and Italian beveraggio.^[3][13] Anglo-Norman records the noun from 1212, as drink, drinking, a drink bought as a tip, and a surname,^[7] and Barnhart finds the surname in England in 1237.^[9] Johnson derived the word from Italian.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Figuratively, a bitter drink: the sorrowful outcome of one's actions, in 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle.^[3] The plain sense "a drink" is first recorded about 1400, in Cleanness.^[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-13th century and Barnhart to about 1300.^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered drink and liquor in general, a drink that sealed a bargain (and the bargain itself), and figuratively a bitter experience or suffering, as in breuen beverage, to contrive hardship for someone.^[2] It could also mean the act of drinking (c. 1390–1697),^[3][15] and in 1577 a light meal between meals, like the related word bever.^[3] Some kinds of drink took the name locally: a drink made by pouring water on pressed grapes (1626), weak cider in Devon (1796) and lemonade in the Caribbean (1835).^[3][16] From 1721 to 1808 a beverage was also a drink, or money for drink, asked of someone wearing new clothes;^[3] in Scotland and the North of England people would demand that the wearer pay beverage, and in Galloway the bridegroom "took the beverage" of his bride by kissing her right after the wedding.^[16] Green's records beveridge as money to spend on drink, and so a tip, from about 1698.^[17] Johnson (1755) gave the general sense "drink; liquor to be drank".^[14] The Shorter Oxford now labels the general sense formal or humorous,^[15] and the colloquial clipping bevvy is at least a hundred years old.^[12]

Timeline

• 1297 – figuratively, a bitter consequence of one's actions.^[3]
• c. 1390 – the act of drinking (obsolete by 1697).^[3]
• c. 1400 – a drink.^[3][2]
• 1577 – a light meal between meals.^[3]
• 1626 – a drink made from pressed grapes and water.^[3]
• c. 1698 – beveridge, money for drink, a tip.^[17]
• 1721 – drink money asked of someone in new clothes (until 1808).^[3]
• 1796 – weak cider, in Devon.^[3]
• 1835 – lemonade, in the Caribbean.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drink, especially one other than water, such as tea, coffee, juice or beer: Hot beverages are served in the lobby.^[11][18][3]
2. (regional) A particular local drink, such as weak cider in Devon or lemonade in the Caribbean.^[3][15][16]
3. (obsolete) The act of drinking.^[3][15]
4. (obsolete, 1721–1808) A drink, or money for drink, asked of someone wearing new clothes.^[3][18][16]

Related words

• imbibe
• bibulous
• bibber
• bever
• bevvy
• potable

Usage notes

The Shorter Oxford labels the word formal or humorous in its general sense.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ a b c d Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster