usquebaugh

English

Alternative forms

• whiskybae (obsolete)

Etymology

From Irish uisce beatha (“water of life”), Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha (“water of life”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʌskwɪbɔː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

usquebaugh (countable and uncountable, plural usquebaughs)

1. whisky, whiskey
   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 8.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     What does my noble captain drink -- is it brandy, rum, usquebaugh?

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     You’re darned witty. Three drams of usquebaugh you drank with Dan Deasy’s ducats.

   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 70:

     ‘Get some blankets round him, Shem. And hand me the usquebaugh.’

   • 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford:

     Kit coughed over a noggin of usquebaugh.

Yola

Alternative forms

• usbaugh

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish uisce beatha.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊskwɛˈbɔː/, /ʊsˈbɔː/

Noun

usquebaugh

1. Irish whiskey
   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 94:

     An gooude usquebaugh ee-sarith uth in cooanès.

     And good whiskey served out in wooden cans.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 74