"small beer" meaning in English

See small beer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: small beers [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} small beer (countable and uncountable, plural small beers)
  1. (countable, uncountable) Beer with a low alcoholic content, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%. Tags: countable, uncountable Translations (beer with low alcohol content): ykkösolut (Finnish), Dünnbier [neuter] (German), lättöl [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-small_beer-en-noun-Rt6gQvK8 Disambiguation of 'beer with low alcohol content': 82 8 10
  2. (uncountable, figurative, chiefly British) Something that is of relatively little importance. Tags: British, figuratively, uncountable Categories (topical): Alcoholic beverages Synonyms: peanuts, small potatoes, trifle Translations (something of little importance): klein bier (Dutch), hiluja (Finnish), pientä kauraa (english: financially) (Finnish), lillukanvarsi (english: detail) (Finnish), małe piwo [neuter] (Polish), el chocolate del loro [colloquial] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-small_beer-en-noun-RTdzCt8C Disambiguation of Alcoholic beverages: 32 53 16 Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 46 17 Disambiguation of 'something of little importance': 2 98 0
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see small, beer. Tags: countable, uncountable Related terms: near beer Translations (small serving of beer): malé pivo [neuter] (Czech), pieni olut (Finnish), małe piwo [neuter] (Polish), piwko [neuter] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-small_beer-en-noun-q-Pw6EXE Disambiguation of 'small serving of beer': 36 15 49

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for small beer meaning in English (4.9kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "small beers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "small beer (countable and uncountable, plural small beers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 April 12, David Williams, “The best low alcohol beers”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "Looking back to the 18th century, when the production of very low-alcohol ‘small’ beers was widespread as a safer alternative to dirty drinking water for the whole family, Small Beer produces a set of sub-3% brews.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Beer with a low alcoholic content, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%."
      ],
      "id": "en-small_beer-en-noun-Rt6gQvK8",
      "links": [
        [
          "alcoholic",
          "alcoholic"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable, uncountable) Beer with a low alcoholic content, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "82 8 10",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "beer with low alcohol content",
          "word": "ykkösolut"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 8 10",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "beer with low alcohol content",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Dünnbier"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 8 10",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "beer with low alcohol content",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "lättöl"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 46 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 53 16",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Alcoholic beverages",
          "orig": "en:Alcoholic beverages",
          "parents": [
            "Beverages",
            "Recreational drugs",
            "Drinking",
            "Food and drink",
            "Liquids",
            "Drugs",
            "Human behaviour",
            "All topics",
            "Matter",
            "Pharmacology",
            "Human",
            "Fundamental",
            "Chemistry",
            "Nature",
            "Biochemistry",
            "Medicine",
            "Sciences",
            "Biology"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The income from standard widgets is small beer compared to the income from the gold-plated ones.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 June 9, Kate Green, “Bring back free school meals”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "The estimated £3m extra cost of providing free school meals represents a little over 1% of the council's education spending. That's no small beer, but nor will it be a huge saving.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 23",
          "text": "But because there is a limit to how much of this is achievable while keeping the whole network operating, we can expect this to amount to small beer in terms of the overall level of cost savings required.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that is of relatively little importance."
      ],
      "id": "en-small_beer-en-noun-RTdzCt8C",
      "links": [
        [
          "relatively",
          "relatively"
        ],
        [
          "importance",
          "importance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, figurative, chiefly British) Something that is of relatively little importance."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "peanuts"
        },
        {
          "word": "small potatoes"
        },
        {
          "word": "trifle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98 0",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "word": "klein bier"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "word": "hiluja"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "financially",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "word": "pientä kauraa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "detail",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "word": "lillukanvarsi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98 0",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "małe piwo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98 0",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial"
          ],
          "word": "el chocolate del loro"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see small, beer."
      ],
      "id": "en-small_beer-en-noun-q-Pw6EXE",
      "links": [
        [
          "small",
          "small#English"
        ],
        [
          "beer",
          "beer#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "35 4 61",
          "word": "near beer"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "36 15 49",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "small serving of beer",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "malé pivo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "36 15 49",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "small serving of beer",
          "word": "pieni olut"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "36 15 49",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "small serving of beer",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "małe piwo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "36 15 49",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "small serving of beer",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "piwko"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "small beer"
  ],
  "word": "small beer"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "en:Alcoholic beverages"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "small beers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "near beer"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 April 12, David Williams, “The best low alcohol beers”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "Looking back to the 18th century, when the production of very low-alcohol ‘small’ beers was widespread as a safer alternative to dirty drinking water for the whole family, Small Beer produces a set of sub-3% brews.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Beer with a low alcoholic content, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "alcoholic",
          "alcoholic"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable, uncountable) Beer with a low alcoholic content, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English uncountable nouns"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The income from standard widgets is small beer compared to the income from the gold-plated ones.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 June 9, Kate Green, “Bring back free school meals”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "The estimated £3m extra cost of providing free school meals represents a little over 1% of the council's education spending. That's no small beer, but nor will it be a huge saving.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 23",
          "text": "But because there is a limit to how much of this is achievable while keeping the whole network operating, we can expect this to amount to small beer in terms of the overall level of cost savings required.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that is of relatively little importance."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "relatively",
          "relatively"
        ],
        [
          "importance",
          "importance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, figurative, chiefly British) Something that is of relatively little importance."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "peanuts"
        },
        {
          "word": "small potatoes"
        },
        {
          "word": "trifle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see small, beer."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "small",
          "small#English"
        ],
        [
          "beer",
          "beer#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "beer with low alcohol content",
      "word": "ykkösolut"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "beer with low alcohol content",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Dünnbier"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "beer with low alcohol content",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "lättöl"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "word": "klein bier"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "word": "hiluja"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "financially",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "word": "pientä kauraa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "detail",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "word": "lillukanvarsi"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "małe piwo"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "word": "el chocolate del loro"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "small serving of beer",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "malé pivo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "small serving of beer",
      "word": "pieni olut"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "small serving of beer",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "małe piwo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "small serving of beer",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "piwko"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "small beer"
  ],
  "word": "small beer"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.