?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 127 Þe bere an deorewurðe licur in anfeble uetlesse.

1357 Lay Folks Catech. 289 It [baptisme] be done anely in water, For nanothir licour is leuefull tharfore.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 21620 Þis cros was men þan wont to se, And it was tald o mani man, þat a licure þar-of ran.

1444 Rolls of Parl. V. 116/2 Vynegre, Oyle, and Hony and all other Lycours gaugeable.

1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. dd.iii Parte of theyr payne shall be in a pytte full of brennynge lycour.

1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) ii. 239 With thre lyquores that ys with wepynge teares, wyth blody swette, and wyth blode.

1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. x. 234 Although it [sc. quicksilver] be a liquor, yet is it more heavie then any other mettall.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 21 Yond same blacke cloud,..lookes like a foule bumbard that would shed his licquor.

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 59 Which Veins and Arteries [in the Louse] are so exceeding little, that both they and their Liquor are insensible.

1701 tr. J. Le Clerc Lives Primitive Fathers 309 He [sc. Prudentius] would have the Soul to be a very subtle Liquor.

1477 T. Norton Ordinall of Alchimy v, in E. Ashmole Theatrum Chem. Britannicum (1652) 63 Your principall Agent..Which I teach you to knowe by signes fowre, By Colour, Odour, Sapor and Liquore.

1565 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 4 I heave not vpe my handes filled w^th liquour of gowld, but w^th water so muche prysed by Artaxerxes.

1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. II. 150 If liquor of flints, siliceous potash, be poured into a solution of gold.

1808 Davy in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 99 93 The fuming muriate of tin, the Liquor of Libavius, is known to contain dry muriatic acid.

1829 J. Togno & E. Durand tr. H. Milne-Edwards & P. Vavasseur Man. Materia Medica viii. 327 Treat directly the morphia with diluted sulphuric acid and permit the liquor to crystallize.

1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 12 The chloride of olefiant gas, usually called Liquor of the Hollanders.

1886 J. M. Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women (ed. 3) xiii. 100 The retained menstrual fluid becomes denser, the liquor being mostly absorbed.

1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. F3^v The shoomaker liquoreth his leather, with waterish liquor, kittchen stuffe, and all kinde of baggage mingled togither.

1611 in J. Barmby Churchwardens' Accts. Pittington (1888) 161 Paide for wodd and coles for the boylinge of the lecker to the same, xijd.

1691 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 292 The sole invention for dipping of cloth, hats, scarfes, &c. in a certain liquor that shal preserve them to keep out rain.

1730 J. Southall Treat. Buggs 14 My Liquor's being then so strong and oleous, that I durst not venture to liquor the Furniture.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 307/1 The hides are then put into a pit of strong liquor called ooze or wooze, prepared..by infusing ground bark in water.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 223 The pyrolignite of iron called iron liquor in this country, is the only mordant used in calico-printing for black, violet, puce, and brown colours. The acetate of alumina, prepared from pyrolignous acid, is much used by the calico-printers under the name of red or yellow liquor, being employed for these dyes.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1209 Some finely clarified syrup, made from loaf sugar, called liquor by the refiners, is poured..upon the base of each cone.

1883 B. W. Richardson Field of Dis. 492 In the further process of finishing the snuff..there is what is called sifting ‘the shorts’, preparatory to adding the ‘liquors’, viz. salt and water to make weight, and scents to give perfume.

1559 in T. Wright Churchwardens' Accts. Ludlow (1869) 90 Payd for lycor to lycor the chymes..jd.

1584 in T. Wright Churchwardens' Accts. Ludlow (1869) 167 Item, for a pynte of goose liker, to liker the belles..iijd.

1736 Compl. Family-piece i. vi. 198 The Day before you intend to brew, you should boyle a Copper of Liquor (Water being an improper Term in a Brew-house).

1742 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 4) I. 22 The Liquor (for it is Six-pence Forfeit in the London Brew-house if the Word Water is named).

1880 Times 2 Oct. 6/1 ‘Liquor’ is the word used, because in brewing it is considered a grave solecism to speak of ‘water’.

1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (1517) sig. Miiii^v Thou hast wylde lycoure, the whiche maketh all thy stomacke to be on a flambe.

1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. G2 ^v He is reputed..a boore that will not take his licour profoundly.

1752 D. Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 229 Though the passion for liquor be more brutal and debasing.

1753 Scots Mag. May 260/2 He was in liquor.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xvii. 110 When he had slept off his liquor.

1871 S. Smiles Character ix. 246 He..led her across, not observing that she was in liquor at the time.

1893 W. Forbes-Mitchell Reminisc. Great Mutiny 108 He had never been the worse for liquor in his life.

1860 C. J. Lever One of Them xxii If you choose to come in and take a liquor with me.

1872 Echo 23 Aug. (Farmer) To have,..as the Americans would say, a liquor-up, at the hotel.

1882 Punch 29 Apr. 193/2 These ‘nips’ and ‘pegs’ and ‘liquors’..at all hours of the day were unknown to us.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 259/2 Liquors of various sorts are compounded and distilled at Montpelier.

1813 W. Dunlap Mem. G. F. Cooke II. xxx. 278 The fountain of mischief, the liquor-bar, was shut.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 765 The cock..above is left open to maintain a communication with the liquor cistern [in tanning].

1859 H. D. Beecher & E. D. Proctor Life Thoughts 2nd Ser. 70 I can imagine how a liquor-dealer would feel to own his conversion.

1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Liquor-gage.

1830 F. Marryat King's Own I. ix. 131 A bottle of..brandy, and a liquor glass.

1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters ii. 21 The postmistress handed him a letter and two circulars from liquor houses.

1852 Boston Bee 29 July The Life Boat..takes the Bee to do, for its course in relation to the Liquor law.

1858 A. Lincoln Coll. Wks. (1953) II. 493 I do not believe in the right of Illinois to interfere with..the Liquor Laws of Maine.

1866 G. Meredith Let. c27 Nov. (1970) I. 345 You will become a fanatical Retired Admiral advocating Maine Liquor laws for every natural appetite on earth.

1908 Daily Chron. 27 Feb. 4/4 Certain liquor-law restrictions which had existed under the second Empire.

1975 Listener 16 Jan. 76/1 The counties would have..their own educational system, their liquor laws.

1850 Merchants' Mag. 22 87 (caption) Statistics of Liquor Licenses in New York City.

1956 ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues xix. 177 According to the law..nobody who has a police record can hold a liquor license.

1971 Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. (Homefinder) 7/2 (advt.) 1. Dance hall. 2. Restaurant—Liquor licence.

c1918 C. Stelzle Why Prohibition! 291 Michigan was about to vote on the liquor question.

1863 Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 29 Sept. 3/2 At 1 o'clock they went into a liquor saloon kept by a woman on Kearny Street.

1874 D. Macrae Amer. at Home xl. 320 In liquor-saloons and gambling-houses.

1855 P. T. Barnum Life 359 The liquor seller, the moderate drinker, and the indifferent man.

1877 Harper's Mag. Dec. 146/2 A method which practically makes the government the liquor-seller.

1877 Harper's Mag. Dec. 146/2 All liquor-selling is not equally dangerous to the community.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas III. vii. xiii. 185 A liquor-shop.

1855 ‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, what he Says xxxi. 276 The great excitement was on the liquor question; it was Noggs and no liquor shops, or Boggs and a few liquor shops.

1877 J. Habberton Jericho Road xix. 167 There was not even a streak of light visible under the door of any liquor-shop in the town.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 769/2 The effect has been a very large reduction in the number of liquor shops.

1816 Ann. Reg. 1815 Chron. 46/1 Mr. Henry Beer's liquor-store.

1855 ‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, what he Says xii. 98 Fire in a liquor-store—hose burst; brandy ‘lying round loose’.

1887 Nation (N.Y.) 15 Dec. 468/3 To keep a liquor-store in Philadelphia.

1939 F. P. Grove Two Generations 39 Take the proceeds to the liquor store.

1964 Calgary (Alberta) Herald 24 July 23/2 A liquor store on the site would devalue residential property to the immediate west.

1972 R. Bloch Night-world (1974) xi. 72 He passed the lights of the liquor store.

1886 T. Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge i, in Graphic 2 Jan. 18/1 The licensed liquor-tent.

1908 Daily Chron. 12 May 4/4 Unfortunately for the Labour party they have got entangled with the liquor trade vote.

1848 J. Marsh (title) A discourse on the extent and evils of the Sunday liquor traffic in cities.

1877 Harper's Mag. Dec. 146/2 This work is a compilation of evidence on ‘the problem of law as applied to the liquor traffic’.

1901 19th Cent. Oct. 538 The illicit liquor-traffic had been absolutely stopped.

1915 W. J. Bryan Mem. 2 Oct. (1925) 434 The brewers and distillers were connecting them with the liquor traffic to their detriment.

1608 R. Norton tr. S. Stevin Disme: Art of Tenths sig. Diij Of Gaudging, and the measures of all Liquor vessels.

1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 138 Her liquor-fired face.

1884 Mag. of Art Mar. 215/2 Some..getting liquor-seasoned as they grow older.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 681 The fat of swine is very precious to lickor shooes and bootes therewithall.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. v. 92 They would melt mee out of my fat drop by drop, and liquor Fishermens-boots with me. View more context for this quotation

1689 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum (ed. 2) xxxiv. 202 Let the Currier very well Liquor them with this following Liquor.

1776 C. Anstey Election Ball (ed. 2) 29 Polish his Stirrups, and liquor his Boots.

1830 G. Colman Random Rec. ii. iv. 96 [He] liquor'd his boots, rubb'd down his highland pony [etc.].

a1704 T. Brown Lett. from Dead in Wks. (1707) II. ii. 168 Believing for some Reasons he had an underhand design of Liquoring his Boots for him.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (at cited word) To liquor one's boots, to drink before a journey, among Roman Catholicks to administer the extreme unction.

a1689 R. Hood & Little John viii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1888) III. v. 134/2 I'll liquor thy hide, If thou offerst to touch the string.

1720 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth VI. 101 I'll liquor your Hide.

1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) II. 99 While the Malt lies liquored in the Mash-vat.

1833 Ure Rep. Sugar Refining 3 in Parl. Papers XXXIII. 553, I. regret that circumstances did not permit me to adopt as my general practice the clearing the loaves with fine syrup, called liquoring, instead of using clay pap.

1851 E. Ronalds & T. Richardson tr. F. Knapp Chem. Technol. III. 155 The [tobacco] leaves intended for the production of snuff are sorted and liquored.

1894 Daily News 18 Apr. 6/6 They will be obliged to ‘liquor’ their spirits—that is to say, they will dilute them with water.