| 释义 |
small beer
[small a. 12 a.]
1. Beer of a weak, poor, or inferior quality.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 359 For drinke, they had none but small Ale or Beere. 1592Nashe Four Lett. Conf. Wks. (Grosart) II. 242 His Poetry more spiritlesse than smal beere. 1636Massinger Gt. Dk. Florence ii. ii, Such as eat store of beef..may preserve their healths With that thin composition called small beer. 1690J. Mackenzie Siege Londonderry 56/2 That every Soldier..shall be allowed a quart of small Beer per diem. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. (1726) App. 317, I think there ought to be something allow'd besides small-beer and apple-dumplings. 1770Massie Tax upon Malt 6 The Quantity of small Beer annually brewed for Sale in England and Wales, is about Two Millions Three Hundred Thousand Barrels. 1822J. Imison Sci. & Art II. 168 The liquor in this state is pretty nearly of the colour of small beer. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Bl. Mousquetaire 535 The Black Mousquetaire was as dead as Small beer!
2. transf.
a. Trivial occupations, affairs, etc.; matters or persons of little or no consequence or importance; trifles.
[1604Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 161 To suckle Fooles, and chronicle small Beere. 1710Addison Whig Examiner No. 4 ⁋5 As rational Writings have been represented by Wine; I shall represent those Kinds of Writings we are now speaking of, by Small Beer.] 1777J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 464 The torment of hearing eternally reflections upon my constituents, that they are..smallbeer,..is what I will not endure. 1844Thackeray B. Lyndon xiv, All the news of sport, assize, and quarter-sessions were detailed by this worthy chronicler of small-beer. 1883Fortn. Rev. Sept. 379 A twice-told tale, or a chronicle of small beer.
†b. (See quot.) Obs.—1
1789T. Wright Meth. Watering Meadows (1790) 23 Our farmers..call even the second running [of the water] by the significant name of small-beer.
c. to think small beer of, or variants of this: To have a poor or low opinion of (oneself or others). Chiefly with negatives. colloq.
1825C. Westmacott English Spy I. 32 He was not thought small beer of. 1855Thackeray Newcomes xxxix, She thinks small beer of painters, J. J.—well, we don't think small beer of ourselves, my noble friend. 1873Punch 18 Jan. 30/2 Is it consistent for..a teetotaller to think no small beer of himself?
3. attrib.
a. In sense 1, as small-beer allowance, small beer-firkin, small beer wort, small beer yeast.
1743Lond. & Co. Brewer ii. (ed. 2) 157 The small-beer-firkin being 9 Gallons. 1746W. Thompson R.N. Adv. (1757) 47 The Fleet sailed without Small Beer Allowance. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 275, I recommended them to procure some small-beer yeast. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 741 Litmus blue is prepared by boiling litmus in small⁓beer wort.
b. In fig. uses (cf. sense 2), as small-beer air, small beer character, small beer chronicle, etc.
1648G. Daniel Eclog iii. 262 Eudæmon, still..in Small⁓beer ayre [you] Flutter with feeble wings. 1682A. Behn City Heiress 29 That..Puritanical, Phanatical, Small-beer face of thine. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. (1726) App. 318 A lad may..chop logic as glibly in a college, where they eat and drink like christians, as in any small-beer hall whatsoever. 1789Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 92 If the reigning prince were not the small-beer character that he is. 1824Westm. Rev. July 181 The second volume [of Redgauntlet] contains a diary, or small-beer journal. 1861Thackeray Round. Papers, Small-beer Chronicle, In the House of Commons what small-beer orators try to pass for strong?
4. Comb. (sense 1), as small-beer brewer, small beer drawer, small beer-drinker.
1638T. Whitaker Blood of Grape 31 When as water or small-beere-drinkers looke like Apes rather then men. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 25 (1726) 132 Under pain of having his said lucubrations burnt..by the hands of the small-beer drawer. 1743Lond. & Co. Brewer ii. (ed. 2) 159 Two considerable Small-Beer Brewers. |