whisky
/ˈwɪski/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.63 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired."
- "Thereafter the route of the original line was followed to the harbour, beyond which an extension, a third of a mile long, led to the salt pans and a newly constructed inn, the "Stafford Arms", where Lady Stafford tried unsuccessfully to educate the locals to drink beer instead of a strong whisky."
- "1768, Ignatius Sancho, letter to Mr. M—, in Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, London: J. Nichols, 3rd edition, 1784, pp. 7-8, Look into old age, you will see avarice joined to poverty—letchery, gout, impotency, like three monkeys, or London bucks, in a one-horse whisky, driving to the Devil."
- "At the appointed time Mr. Kettering’s one-horse chaise, or rather whisky, drove up to the door; for, as it was principally intended for him to visit his patients, when disinclined to mount his horse, it was built in the lightest manner, and without a head, that it might move with the greater expedition."
Etymology
Variant of usque, abbreviation of usquebaugh (compare obsolete whiskybae), from Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha (“water of life”), calque of Medieval Latin aqua vitae. Compare akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, eau de vie, and water of life from the same source.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: uisge-beatha, aqua vitae