usquebaugh

plural usquebaughs · alternative obsolete uskebeaghe · alternative obsolete usquebath · alternative Scotland obsolete usquabae · alternative Scotland obsolete usquebae · alternative Scotland obsolete whiskybae

1. IrelandScotlandarchaiccountableuncountableWhiskey or whisky.

   VVhat dangers thou canſt make us ſcorn! / VVi' tippeny, vve fear nae evil; / VVi' uſquabae, vve'll face the devil!— […]

   1790 (date written; published 1791), Robert Burns, “Tam o’ Shanter. A Tale.”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 201

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   [R]emember the Lo[rd] Admyrall [Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham] and the Lord Threasurer [Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset] with a couple of Pugges or some vscough baugh or some such toyes, it would shew that you do not neglect them, whoe, I protest, are to you wonderfull kynde.

   1600 October 4 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Robert Cecil, “[Letter] X”, in John MacLean, editor, Letters from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir George Carew (Camden Series; 88), [London]: […] [John Bowyer Nichols and Sons] for the Camden Society, published 1864, →OCLC, page 33

   [I]f you ſcape vvith life, and take a fagot boat, and a bottle of Vſquebaugh, come home poore men, like a type of Theames Street ſtinking of pitch and poore Iohn.

   c. 1613–1616 (date written), Fra[ncis] Beaumont, Jo[hn] Fletcher, The Scornful Ladie. A Comedie. […], London: […] [John Beale] for Myles Partrich, […], published 1616, →OCLC, Act II, signature E, recto

   The Iriſh prepare a diſtilled Oenomeli made vvith Honey, VVine and ſome herbs, vvhich they cal Vſquebach, not unfit for a nation that feeds on fleſh ravv, or but half ſod.

   1658, Tho. Mouffet [i.e., Thomas Muffet, et al.], “The Theater of Insects: Or, Lesser Living Creatures. […]. Chapter V. Of the Name, Difference and Use of Honey.”, in J[ohn] R[owland], transl., The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents: […], revised edition, London: […] E. Cotes, for G[eorge] Sawbridge […], T. Williams […], and T. Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 913

   But as to uſquebagh; ah long life to the liquor—it is an exhilirator of the bovvels, and a ſtomatic to the head; I ſay, Mr. Preſident, it invigorates, it ſtimulates, it—in ſhort it is the onlieſt liquor of life, and no man alive vvill die vvhilſt he drinks it.

   1762, [Samuel] Foote, The Orators. […], Dublin: […] Thomas Richey, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 54

   He [Robert Burns] might have traced his habit of ale-house tippling to the last long precious draught of his favourite usquebaugh, which he took in the prospect of bidding farewel for ever to his native land; […]

   1818, William Hazlitt, “Lecture VII. On Burns, and the Old English Ballads.”, in Lectures on the English Poets. […], London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, →OCLC, page 260