1. A spirituous liquor made from any farinaceous grain; but generally from barley, which is first malted and ground, and its fermentable substance extracted by hot water. This extract or infusion is evaporated by boiling in caldrons, and hops or some other plant of an agreeable bitterness added. The liquor is then suffered to ferment in vats. beer is of different degrees of strength, and is denominated small beer ale, porter, brown stout, etc., according to its strength, or other peculiar qualities.
2. beer is a name given in America to fermenting liquors made of various other materials; and when a decoction of the roots of plants forms a part of the composition, it is called spring-beer, from the season in which it is made.
BEERSHEB A, now Bir-es-Seba, a place in the southern most part of Canaan, 27 miles S.E. from Gaza, celebrated for the sojourn of the patriarchs. The name, signifying the well of the oath, was bestowed in allusion to the covenant made there between Abraham and Abimelech, and is frequently referred to in the Scriptures in describing the extent of the country— “from Dan to Beersheba." The place is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome in the 4th century as a large village, and the seat of a Roman garrison. At a later period it seems to have been one of the episcopal cities of Palestine, and some of its churches were standing in the 14th century. Hardly any remains of its buildings are now left, but its two wells are still open, and afford an abundant supply of pure water, which stands in the larger at a depth of 44⅜ feet, and in the smaller at a depth of 12. (See Robinson’s Researches, i. 301.)
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3, p. 504 [168 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]
or the well of the oath; so named from a well which Abraham dug in this place, and the covenant which he here made with Abimelech, king of Gerar, Gen. xx, 31. Here also he planted a grove, as it would appear, for the purpose of retirement for religious worship. In process of time, a considerable town was built on the same spot, which retained the same name. Beersheba was given by Joshua to the tribe of Judah, and afterward transferred to Simeon, Joshua xv, 28. It was situated twenty miles south of Hebron, in the extreme south of the land of Israel, as Dan was on the north. The two places are frequently thus mentioned in Scripture, as “from Dan to Beersheba,” to denote the whole length of the country.
דבורה BEE, דבורה, occurs Deut. i, 44; Judges xiv, 8; Psalm cviii, 12; Isa. vii, 18. A well known, small, industrious insect; whose form, propagation, economy, and singular instinct and ingenuity, have attracted the attention of the most inquisitive and laborious inquirers into nature. Bees were very numerous in the east. _Serid, or Seriad_, means “the land of the hive;” and Canaan was celebrated as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” The wild bees formed their comb in the crevices of the rocks, and in the hollows of decayed trees. The passage in Isa. vii, 8, which mentions the “hissing for the bee,” is supposed to involve an allusion to the practice of calling out the bees from their hives, by a hissing or whistling sound, to their labour in the fields, and summoning them again to return when the heavens begin to lower, or the shadows of evening to fall. In this manner Jehovah threatens to rouse the enemies of Judah, and lead them to the prey. However widely scattered, or far remote from the scene of action, they should hear his voice, and with ...as much promptitude as the bee that has been taught to recognise the signal of its owner and obey his call, they should assemble their forces; and although weak and insignificant as a swarm of bees, in the estimation of a proud and infatuated people, they should come, with irresistible might, and take possession of the rich and beautiful region which had been abandoned by its terrified inhabitants.
The bee is represented by the ancients as a vexatious and even a formidable enemy; and the experience of every person who turns his attention to the temper and habits of this insect attests the truth of their assertion. The allusion, therefore, of Moses to their fierce hostility, Deut. i, 44, is both just and beautiful: “The Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir even unto Hormah.” The Amorites, it appears, were the most bitter adversaries to Israel of all the nations of Canaan. Like bees that are easily irritated, that attack with great fury and increasing numbers the person that dares to molest their hive, and persecute him in his flight to a considerable distance, the incensed Amorites had collected their hostile bands, and chased the Israelites from their territory. The Psalmist also complains that his enemies compassed him about like bees; fiercely attacking him on every side. From these allusions it would however appear, that the bees of the east were of a more quarrelsome temper than ours, which exist chiefly in a domesticated state.
V. get drunk, be drunk, see double, take a drop too much, take a glass too much, drink, tipple, tope, booze, bouse, guzzle, swill*, soak*, sot, bum*, besot, have a jag on, have a buzz on, lush*, bib, swig, carouse, sacrifice at the shrine of bacchus, take to drinking, drink hard, drink deep, drink like a fish, have one's swill*, drain the cup, splice the main brace, take a hair of the dog that bit you, liquor, liquor up, wet one's whistle, take a whet, crack a bottle, pass the bottle, toss off, go to the alehouse, go to the public house, make one drunk, inebriate, fuddle, befuddle, fuzzle, get into one's head
Phr. nunc est bibendum, "bacchus ever fair and young", "drink down all unkindness", "o that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains"
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives.
And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead.
The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.
And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim.
So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities—Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
And they had in their inheritance Beer-sheba, or Sheba, and Moladah,
Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah and included Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah,
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