liquor

See also: liqueur

English

Alternative forms

liquour (obsolete)
liqa (pronunciation spelling)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪk.ə(ɹ)/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪk.ɚ/
Homophone: licker
Rhymes: -ɪkə(ɹ)

Noun

liquor (countable and uncountable, plural liquors)

(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."
(obsolete) A beverage, any drinkable liquid.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:beverage
A liquid obtained by cooking meat or vegetables (or both).
Synonyms: stock, (American English) pot liquor, broth, bouillon
(UK, cooking) A parsley sauce commonly served with traditional pies and mash.
(chiefly US, Canada, Australia) Strong (high-ABV) alcoholic drink derived from fermentation and distillation.
Synonyms: spirits, booze (narrow sense), hard liquor, hard drink (narrow sense), strong drink (narrow sense), aqua vitae, water of life

Hypernyms: liquor (broad sense), booze (broad sense), adult beverage, hard drink (broad sense), strong drink (broad sense), drink (narrow sense) < beverage, drink (broad sense)

Coordinate terms: malt liquor, beer, ale, wine, wine cooler
- 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.
(loosely) Any alcoholic beverage.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:alcoholic beverage
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.
A liquid in which something has been steeped.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

liquid obtained by cooking meat and/or vegetables

Bulgarian: бульо́н m (buljón)
Catalan: suc (ca) m
Estonian: leem
Finnish: liemi (fi)
Irish: licéar m
Polish: bulion (pl) m
Russian: бульо́н (ru) (bulʹón)
Spanish: jugo (es) m
Welsh: gwlych m

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

strong alcoholic drink derived from fermentation and distillation

Arabic: كُحُول (ar) m (kuḥūl), خَمْر (ar) (ḵamr)
Belarusian: алкаго́льны напо́й m (alkahólʹny napój), алкаго́ль m (alkahólʹ)
Bhojpuri: शराब (śarāb)
Bulgarian: спи́ртна напи́тка f (spírtna napítka)
Burmese: အရက် (my) (a.rak)
Catalan: licor (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 烈酒 (zh) (lièjiǔ), 蒸餾酒 / 蒸馏酒 (zh) (zhēngliújiǔ)
Czech: lihovina (cs) f
Danish: likør (da) c, spiritus c
Dutch: sterke drank m, sterkedrank (nl) m
Esperanto: likvoro
Estonian: viin (et) (vodka), naps (a shot of any strong alcohol)
Finnish: viina (fi) (clear in color); väkevä alkoholijuoma, väkevä (fi) (any strong alcohol)
French: spiritueux (fr) m
Galician: licor (gl) m
German: Spirituose (de) f, Lebenswasser (de) n, Branntwein (de) m (loosely)
Hebrew: שֵׁכָר (he) m (shekhár)
Hindi: दारू (hi) f (dārū), मदिरा (hi) f (madirā), शराब (hi) f (śarāb), नशा (hi) m (naśā)
Hungarian: likőr (hu), tömény (hu), rövidital (hu)
Hunsrik: Likoer m
Ingrian: viina
Irish: deoch mheisciúil f
Italian: liquore (it) m
Javanese: likir (jv)
Khmer: ស្រា (km) (sraa), សុរា (km) (soraa)
Korean: 술 (ko) (sul)
Lao: ເຫລົ້າ (lao), ສຸຣາ (su rā), ສຸລາ (su lā)
Latin: tēmētum n, ebriamen n, aqua vitae f (medieval)
Latvian: liķieris, spirts (lv)
Lezgi: ички (ički)
Macedonian: жесток пијалок m (žestok pijalok)
Malay: arak (ms), minuman keras (ms)
Malayalam: മദ്യം (ml) (madyaṁ), കള്ള് (ml) (kaḷḷŭ), ലഹരിപാനീയം (laharipānīyaṁ)
Māori: waipiro
Naga:
Khiamniungan Naga: thīng
Norwegian:
Bokmål: brennevin (no) n, sprit m
Persian:
Dari: عَرَق (araq), شَرَاب (šarāb)

Iranian Persian: عَرَق (araġ), شَراب (šarâb)
Polish: trunek (pl) m, akwawita (pl) f, okowita (pl) f
Portuguese: licor (pt) m
Quechua: aqha
Romanian: lichior (ro) n
Russian: спиртно́й напи́ток m (spirtnój napítok), алкого́льный напи́ток m (alkogólʹnyj napítok), кре́пкий напи́ток m (krépkij napítok), спирт (ru) m (spirt), алкого́ль (ru) m (alkogólʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: deoch làidir f, spiorad m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: жестоко пиће n

Latin: žestoko piće n
Slovak: liehovina f
Slovene: žgana pijača f
Spanish: licor (es) m
Swedish: sprit (sv) c, likör (sv)
Tagalog: likor
Thai: เหล้า (th) (lâo), สุรา (th) (sù-raa)
Ukrainian: алкого́льний напі́й m (alkohólʹnyj napíj), алкого́ль (uk) m (alkohólʹ)
Urdu: مَدِرا f (madirā), شَراب (ur) f (śarāb), عَرَق m ('araq)
Welsh: gwirod m or f, diod gadarn f
West Flemish: kortndrank m
Zhuang: laeuj

liquid used in process industry to produce a desired reaction

Esperanto: reaglikvo
Finnish: liemi (fi)
Spanish: licor (es) m

Verb

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

(intransitive) To drink liquor, usually to excess.
(transitive) To cause someone to drink liquor, usually to excess.
(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

Derived terms

liquored up

Translations

to drink liquor, usually to excess

Estonian: jooma (et), purjutama

to cause someone to drink liquor, usually to excess

to grease

References

“liquor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “liquor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology 1

From liqueō (“to be liquid, fluid”) +‎ -or.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈlɪ.kʷɔr]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.kʷor]

Noun

liquor m (genitive liquōris); third declension

fluidity, liquidity
liquid, fluid

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	liquor	liquōrēs
genitive	liquōris	liquōrum
dative	liquōrī	liquōribus
accusative	liquōrem	liquōrēs
ablative	liquōre	liquōribus
vocative	liquor	liquōrēs

Related terms

Descendants

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

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈlɪ.kʷɔr]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.kʷor]

Verb

liquor

first-person singular present passive indicative of liquō

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.kʷɔr]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.kʷor]

Verb

līquor (present infinitive līquī or līquier); third conjugation, deponent, no passive, no perfect or supine stems (intransitive)

to be fluid or liquid
to flow
to melt
to dissolve

Conjugation

Conjugation of līquor (third conjugation, deponent, no passive, no perfect or supine stems)

indicative		singular				plural
indicative		first	second		third	first	second		third
active	present	līquor	līqueris, līquere		līquitur	līquimur	līquiminī		līquuntur
	imperfect	līquēbar	līquēbāris, līquēbāre		līquēbātur	līquēbāmur	līquēbāminī		līquēbantur
	future	līquar	līquēris, līquēre		līquētur	līquēmur	līquēminī		līquentur
subjunctive		singular				plural
subjunctive		first	second		third	first	second		third
active	present	līquar	līquāris, līquāre		līquātur	līquāmur	līquāminī		līquantur
active	imperfect	līquerer	līquerēris, līquerēre		līquerētur	līquerēmur	līquerēminī		līquerentur
imperative		singular				plural
imperative		first	second		third	first	second		third
active	present	—	līquere		—	—	līquiminī		—
active	future	—	līquitor		līquitor	—	—		līquuntor
non-finite forms		infinitive				participle
non-finite forms		active		passive		active		passive
present		līquī, līquier¹		—		līquēns		—
verbal nouns		gerund					supine
		genitive	dative		accusative	ablative	accusative		ablative
		līquendī	līquendō		līquendum	līquendō	—		—

¹The present passive infinitive in -ier is a rare poetic form which is attested.

References

“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.
William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “liquor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.