Just in time for Oktoberfest, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a collection of words relating to beer and brewing.
References to beer and beer-drinking have been around in English for about as long as the language has been written down.
Bēor (beer) appears in a variety of Old English sources, and the bēor-sele (the beer hall) frequently appears in works such as Beowulf, where the communal drinking of beer (among other beverages) is presented as an important social activity.
Fast forward to the present, and beer remains an important social drink. It often appears as part of compound words in current English, and the OED’s additions and updates to numerous compounds relating to places and social events at which beer is obtained or consumed reflects this.
You could join a beer league (a US term for an amateur or recreational sports league, especially one with an emphasis on socialising and informality), or drink your beer as part of a beer-drink or beer-up (terms used in African, especially Southern African, and Australian and New Zealand contexts respectively), having procured it from a beer slinger (a person who serves beer; a bartender) at a beer garden, beerhouse, beer parlour, beer stall, boozeroo (New Zealand), beer-cellar, or, indeed, bierkeller (Germany and German-speaking areas).
A beer-off is not, as the uninitiated might think, a form of drinking competition or duel by beer. It is in fact a name used in parts of England (chiefly Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and south Yorkshire) for a shop selling alcoholic drinks for consumption off the premises (commonly known elsewhere in Britain as an off-licence, or offie for short).
You wouldn’t want to be accused of being a cheap-arse (a stingy or miserly person) for turning up to a party empty-handed, of course; nor perhaps a cheap date (someone who has inexpensive tastes or needs when on a date, esp with regard to alcoholic drinks; also a person who easily becomes drunk or has a low tolerance for alcohol).
There is an inevitable downside to all this beeriness, of course. Too great a fondness for the stuff may earn you a reputation as a beer bombard or beer hound (terms old and new for those who drink beer to excess), and even result in a beer boep (the South African name for a protuberant belly or paunch, especially on a man, attributed to beer consumption), particularly if you regularly enjoy bierwurst (cooked smoked sausage originating in Germany, made of ground beef and pork, and typically seasoned with garlic, mustard seeds, onion, and pepper) with your pint.
More recently identified side effects of beer consumption include the figurative beer coat or beer blanket, which renders the drinker apparently impervious to the cold once sufficient alcohol has been drunk.
With great brewing often comes great power. The OED has added the term beer baron (a successful or powerful figure in the beer industry, especially one with a great deal of influence in public life or political affairs) and updated beerage (like peerage, as in the House of Lords in the UK). Chiefly a British term, beerage is usually used in humorous and satirical contexts to describe wealthy, powerful, or influential people associated with brewing or the beer industry considered as a class or group, or the beer industry as a social or political force.
To learn more about our most recent updates, read these New Words release notes.
