hard liquor
noun
Forms hard liquors
- noun Synonym of liquor (strict sense): a beverage that has been distilled to give it a high alcohol content (high proof, high ABV). “Various hard liquors have become cultural touchstones, as bourbon in Kentucky, vodka in Russia, and baijiu in China.”
Synonyms
spirits hard drink strong drink booze aqua vitae water of life liquor John Barleycorn
Etymology
Clarification of the intended sense of liquor, which originally had a wider sense of application to many liquids and remains polysemous regarding distilled alcoholic drinks versus nondistilled ones (such as beer and wine).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “hard liquor”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details