small beern.
/smɔːl ˈbɪə/, U.S. /ˌsmɔl ˈbɪ(ə)r/, /ˌsmɑl ˈbɪ(ə)r/ 1. Beer of a weak, poor, or inferior quality. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > beer > [noun] > weak or inferior beer
small beer1498
small drinkc1525
tap-lash1623
pritch1673
grout1674
belch1706
whip-belly1738
penny-whip1786
swipes1796
strike-me-dead1824
inky-pinky1835
swankey1841
suds1904
near-beer1909
1498 in J. C. Tingey Rec. City of Norwich (1910) II. 156 Where as they solde a fore for iiijd the ferken of smalbere and for the vjd the ferken of best bere.
?1537 T. Elyot Castell of Helthe ii. xxvii. f. 43v Let him drinke a litell iulep made with cleane water and sugar, or a litell small biere or ale, so that he drynke not a great glutte.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 359 For drinke, they had none but small Ale or Beere.
1592 T. Nashe Strange Newes 242 His Poetry more spiritlesse than smal beere.
1636 P. Massinger Great Duke of Florence ii. ii. sig. D3v Such as eate store of Beefe..may preserve their healths With that thin composition call'd small Beere.
1690 J. Mackenzie Siege London-derry 56/2 That every Soldier..shall be allowed a quart of small Beer per diem.
1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (1726) App. 317 I think there ought to be something allow'd besides small-beer and apple-dumplings.
1770 J. Massie Reas. against Tax on Malt 6 The Quantity of small Beer annually brewed for Sale in England and Wales, is about Two Millions Three Hundred Thousand Barrels.
1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art (new ed.) II. 168 The liquor in this state is pretty nearly of the colour of small beer.
1842 R. H. Barham Black Mousquetaire in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 29 The Black Mousquetaire was as dead as Small-beer!
1904 E. Osmond Survivals Early Culture in Later Civilization (Bury St. Edmunds & W. Suffolk Rec. Office Acc. 788) in J. Thirsk & J. Imray Suffolk Farming 19th Cent. (1958) 129 Men, women, and children sat in the shade of a hedge or tree and ate harvest cake and drank sugar- or small-beer.
1956 P. O'Brian Golden Ocean vii. 112 Peter and Bailey were below again, breakfasting on a tin mug of small beer.
2008 U. McGovern Lost Crafts (2009) 110 While small beer was taken every day, stronger brews were made for celebrations.
2. In extended use.† b. Water already employed in irrigating a higher meadow on a lower one (and on its reuse regarded as of poor quality) Obsolete.
a. Trivial occupations, affairs, etc.; matters or persons of little or no consequence or importance; trifles.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > one who is unimportant > of little importance > collectively
littleOE
frya1577
small fry1652
potato1757
small beer1777
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial > collectively
fiddle-faddle1577
fry1587
small beer1620
pigs and whistles1681
trantlesa1689
rattletrap1742
fewtrils1763
fritter1803
nugae1822
small beer1844
trick1877
trivia1902
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. i. 163 To suckle fooles, and chronicle small Beere. View more context for this quotation
1710 J. Addison 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.]
1777 J. Adams Let. 29 Apr. in Wks. (1854) IX. 464 The torment of hearing eternally reflections upon my constituents, that they are..smallbeer,..is what I will not endure.
1844 W. M. Thackeray Barry Lyndon i. xv, in Fraser's Mag. July 102/2 All the news of sport, assize, and quarter-sessions were detailed by this worthy chronicler of small-beer.
1883 Fortn. Rev. Sept. 379 A twice-told tale, or a chronicle of small beer.
1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night i. 17 I'm afraid my doings are very small beer compared with yours.
1945 D. Bolster Roll on my Twelve 26 You're small beer as a seaman, till you knows yer job.
1992 Economist 18 Jan. 59/2 The Kyowa affair promises to be small beer alongside yet another political scandal now brewing.
2010 M. Bovens et al. in M. Bovens et al. Real World EU Accountability i. 3 The Commission fined Microsoft €899 million... Small beer, some would say. But it sent a strong signal.
ΚΠ
1790 T. Wright Advantages & Method Watering Meadows (ed. 2) 23 Our farmers..call even the second running [of the water] by the significant name of small-beer.
c. colloquial (now historical and rare). to think small beer of (and variants): to have a poor or low opinion of (oneself or others); chiefly with negatives.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > [verb (transitive)]
haveeOE
weenc1000
praisec1250
setc1374
set by1393
endaunt1399
prizec1400
reverencec1400
tender1439
repute1445
to have (also make, take) regard to or that1457
to take, make, set (no) count of (upon, by)c1475
pricec1480
to make (great, etc.) account (also count, esteem, estimation, reckoning, regard, store) of1483
force1509
to look upon ——c1515
to have (also hold) in estimationc1522
to make reckoning of1525
esteem1530
regard1533
to tell, make, hold, set (great, little, no) store of1540
value1549
to make dainty of (anything)1555
reckon1576
to be struck on1602
agrade1611
respect1613
beteem1627
appreciate1648
to put, set (an) esteem, a high, low esteem upon1665
to think small beer of1816
to think the world of1826
existimate1847
reckon1919
rate1973
1816 Antijacobin Rev. June 639 Not thinking small beer of himself.
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 32 He was not thought small beer of.
1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes (1855) II. i. 10 She thinks small beer of painters, J. J.—well, we don't think small beer of ourselves, my noble friend.
1873 Punch 18 Jan. 30/2 Is it consistent for..a teetotaller to think no small beer of himself?
1925 Music & Lett. 6 119 We Europeans think small beer of unharmonised music.
1956 P. O'Brian Golden Ocean iv. 64 I was first of the Falkland then and thought no small beer of myself.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
(a) In sense 1, as small-beer allowance, small-beer-firkin, small-beer wort, small-beer yeast.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial > collectively
fiddle-faddle1577
fry1587
small beer1620
pigs and whistles1681
trantlesa1689
rattletrap1742
fewtrils1763
fritter1803
nugae1822
small beer1844
trick1877
trivia1902
1620 I. C. Two Merry Milke-maids i. iii. sig. D3 I thought you had had a Small-Beere stomacke.
1685 Compl. Planter & Cyderist xxix. 215 Small Beer Vessels well scalded are not amiss.
a1714 E. Freke Remembrances (2001) 181 I leave..in the back house and dary..2 shelves and i horse or ale stoole i stand in the small beer seller..and i stand ore ale stoole in my own seller.
1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) II. 157 The small-beer-firkin being 9 Gallons.
1757 W. Thompson Royal Navy-men's Advocate 47 The Fleet sailed without Small Beer Allowance.
1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. 101 They are immediately affected, like small-beer casks, and rave and boil over in an abundance of factious sputter and turbulence.
1801 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 5 275 I recommended them to procure some small-beer yeast.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 741 Litmus blue is prepared by boiling litmus in small-beer wort.
1912 S. T. Bivins Southern Cookbk. 107 Put two quarts of ale, or if you cannot get it, of small beer yeast.
2007 R. Bodenheimer Knowing Dickens v. 140 Mary Joynes got ‘dead drunk’ after forcing open a small beer cellar in 1850.
(b) In figurative uses (cf. sense 2), as small-beer air, small-beer character, etc.
ΚΠ
1637 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Elder Brother ii. ii. sig. D2 Such small beere braines, but aske 'em any thing Out of the Element of their understanding, And they stand gaping like a roasted Pig.
1641 Preparative to Studie 4 If I be once inflam'd against thy Foes That would preach down thy worth in small-beer-prose.
1648 G. Daniel Eclog. iii. 262 Eudæmon, still..in Small~beer ayre [you] Flutter with feeble wings.
1682 A. Behn City-heiress iii. i. 29 That..Puritanical, Schismatical, Phanatical, Small-beer-face of thine.
1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (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.
1789 G. Morris in J. Sparks Life G. Morris (1832) II. 92 If the reigning prince were not the small-beer character that he is.
1824 Westm. Rev. July 181 The second volume [of Redgauntlet] contains a diary, or small-beer journal.
1861 W. M. Thackeray Roundabout Papers Small-beer Chronicle, In the House of Commons what small-beer orators try to pass for strong?
1919 G. Saintsbury Hist. French Novel II. vii. 293 In some ways he was a kind of Thackeray several degrees under-proof—a small-beer Thackeray.
2004 C. Byron Testosterone Inc. 81 Tyco Labs was little more than a small-beer version of SCM.
b. Objective (in sense 1), as small-beer brewer, small-beer drawer, small-beer-drinker.
ΚΠ
1638 T. Whitaker Tree Humane Life 31 When as water or small-beere-drinkers looke like Apes rather then men.
1648 Mercurius Pragmaticus No. 38 sig. Ddd1v This fellow was translated from a Translator to a small-beer-Brewer, the worst enemy of mankind.
1700 J. Jones Myst. Opium Reveal'd i. 11 Small beer-Drinkers, in comparison of Wine-Drinkers.
1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (1726) xxv. 132 Under pain of having his said lucubrations burnt..by the hands of the small-beer drawer.
1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) II. 159 Two considerable Small-Beer Brewers.
1793 London Packet 22 Mar. The combination of Small Beer Brewers, to raise the price of their beverage, should be resisted.
1868 Musical Times 23 May 349/1 If Mr. Bass bad required protection for his red triangle against a small-beer brewer [etc.].
1996 P. Sambrook Country House Brewing Eng. 122 The small beer brewer could not brew by the book.
C2.
small-beer chronicle n. [with allusion to quot. a1616 at sense 2a] a narrative of trivial, usually domestic, events.
ΚΠ
1801 W. Atkinson Let. in Answer to one written by Stranger 27 To try your prowess amongst the lowest of the low, in six-penny pamphlets, and small beer chronicles?
1852 New Monthly Mag. May 18 Jane Austen..effectually interests you in the ‘small-beer chronicles’ of every-day household life.
1878 T. Archer Pictures & Royal Portraits II. 142 The evil influences that had..made history itself a mere small-beer chronicle of vile intrigues and petty wranglings among partizans and favourites.
1922 Poet Lore Summer 294 The small beer chronicles of the great always have a specific value—one collects one's almanac of anecdotes from Adam to Zarathustra!
1989 J. Sutherland Stanford Compan. Victorian Fiction 111 In content, The Caxtons is a small beer chronicle.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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