small beer

SEE SYNONYMS FOR small beer ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

weak beer.

Chiefly British Slang. matters or persons of little or no importance.

Origin of small beer

First recorded in 1560–70

Words nearby small beer

small, small advertisement, smallage, small arm, small arms, small beer, small-bore, small bowel, smallboy, Small Business Administration, small calorie

Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for small beer

But the jealous woman only gave her a canvas bag of brown bread and hard cheese, with a bottle of small-beer.
English Fairy Tales|Flora Annie Steel
M. M. Plentiful diet of flesh-meat and vegetables with small-beer.
Zoonomia, Vol. II|Erasmus Darwin
But in some ways he was a kind of Thackeray several degrees underproof—a small-beer Thackeray that was a very excellent creature.
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2|George Saintsbury
He asked especially for Sarah's small-beer, and drank two or three large glasses of it.
Wenderholme|Philip Gilbert Hamerton

As often as I called for small-beer, the master tipped the wink, and the servant brought me a brimmer of October.
The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886|Ministry of Education

British Dictionary definitions for small beer

small beer

noun

informal, mainly British people or things of no importance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with small beer

small beer

Also, small potatoes. Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer, or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes. The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry, def. 2.

单词	small beer
释义	small beer SEE SYNONYMS FOR small beer ON THESAURUS.COM noun weak beer. Chiefly British Slang. matters or persons of little or no importance. Origin of small beer First recorded in 1560–70 Words nearby small beer small, small advertisement, smallage, small arm, small arms, small beer, small-bore, small bowel, smallboy, Small Business Administration, small calorie Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020 Example sentences from the Web for small beer But the jealous woman only gave her a canvas bag of brown bread and hard cheese, with a bottle of small-beer. English Fairy Tales\|Flora Annie Steel M. M. Plentiful diet of flesh-meat and vegetables with small-beer. Zoonomia, Vol. II\|Erasmus Darwin But in some ways he was a kind of Thackeray several degrees underproof—a small-beer Thackeray that was a very excellent creature. A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2\|George Saintsbury He asked especially for Sarah's small-beer, and drank two or three large glasses of it. Wenderholme\|Philip Gilbert Hamerton As often as I called for small-beer, the master tipped the wink, and the servant brought me a brimmer of October. The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886\|Ministry of Education British Dictionary definitions for small beer small beer noun informal, mainly British people or things of no importance Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Idioms and Phrases with small beer small beer Also, small potatoes. Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer, or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes. The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry, def. 2. The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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