whiskey
UK spellingwhisky
- 1A distilled liquor produced from grain, such as barley, corn, or rye, that has first been mashed and fermented.
The distillery ages its whiskey in charred oak barrels for at least four years.
He savored a smoky whiskey beside the fire after the long hike.
Note
The name is Irish water: Old Irish uisce, "water", joined with bethu, "life", so the drink is literally the water of life. Usquebaugh, its older synonym, keeps that Irish phrase closer to the surface. The -ey spelling belongs to Ireland, the US and England, and both whiskeys and whiskies serve as plurals. The Gentleman's Magazine of 1753 was already blaming it for more deaths than smallpox.
- 2A drink or single serving of whiskey, as poured into a glass.
After the long shift, the crew gathered for a quiet whiskey.
Can I pour you a whiskey before dinner?
- 3Alternative letter-case form of Whiskey from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
The pilot read his call sign back as whiskey-seven-four to the tower.
He spelled the suffix aloud, ending with whiskey for the final W.
Note
The code word for W is written in lowercase the way it usually turns up in running text and in transcripts of radio talk, in call signs, registrations and spelled-out codes. It always keeps the -ey ending, even where the drink is spelled whisky. It is often hyphenated to the code words around it, as in whiskey-seven-four, so a spoken sequence reads as one unit.
- 4A light carriage, such as a gig, made to be pulled by a single horse.
The young squire drove his whiskey briskly down the country lane.
Ye Ladies of Lapland who beesoms bestride, Or, pair’d in Witch Whiskeys, aslant the Moon slide;
1772, George Alexander Stevens, “The Portrait”Similargig
Note
An unrelated word that happens to share the spelling, built from whisk plus -ey, and owing nothing to the Irish behind the liquor. Tim-whiskey is another name for the same light carriage. George Alexander Stevens, in 1772, pictured witches "pair'd in Witch Whiskeys" sliding aslant the Moon. Today the word belongs to historical writing about horse-drawn travel, so use it with that period setting.
Practice
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Origins
Whiskey comes from English 'usquebaugh', a shortening of 'usque', which came from Irish 'uisce beatha' (also Scottish Gaelic 'uisge-beatha'), a calque of Medieval Latin 'aqua vītae' meaning 'water of life'. Related words from the same source include akvavit, aqua vitae, and eau de vie.
Formed from 'whisk' combined with the suffix '-ey'.