root beer
54
2.3
- noun
- /ˈruːt bɪr/
- US
:
refresco de raíz
- I ordered a root beer float for dessert after my meal.
- drink root beer
- root beer float
- get a root beer
So I said that IBC root beer was my favorite soda.
- So I said that IBC root beer was my favorite soda.
- She was in the pantry in a bathrobe in the dark, drinking a root beer.
- I mean, Henry Weinharts is incredible, like just incredible root beer.
- And there was a hot dog and root beer stand called Dog and Suds that we could drive to.
- Well, one, I was a car hop at A&W; root beer stand and I was doing pretty good until they put us on skates.
- I have high hopes because the first ingredient is sugar and it's in hard candy and usually hard kitties work pretty well so let's see they smell just like root beer.
- And then we go to A&W; and get a a Papa Burger and a Coney Dog and a root beer float.
Examples
-
Jimmy was back with the root beer in glass mugs.
Fiction book (1999) -
Uncle Bob dropped some change into the machine and handed me a root beer.
Fiction book (1990) -
Can you make that a large root beer, please?
-
Can I get a root beer?
-
Bring me in some root beer when you come!
-
I saw an old woman carrying a can of root beer come in.
Fiction book (1990) -
I just got root beer and the root beer float.
-
I downed half a bottle of root beer and went to sleep.
Fiction book (1994) -
Kendra stuck a dollar bill in the pop machine and punched the button for a root beer.
Fiction book (2000) -
I ordered a Maid Rite, fries, and a root beer float.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
38
2.0
A cold fizzy drink flavored with ginger
1
6.3
A sweet fizzy drink flavored with birch bark
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun-noun composition 'root' + 'beer' transparently signals a beverage associated with or flavored by roots, so a learner who knows both words will likely infer it's a drink made from roots. However, key properties (that root beer is typically a sweet, carbonated, non-alcoholic soft drink rather than conventional alcoholic beer) are culturally specific and not fully predictable from the constituents, so full understanding may require prior exposure.
Etymology
Root beer comes from old homemade drinks made by boiling roots and herbs to get a sweet, fizzy flavor. People made these drinks much like beer, so even though they had little or no alcohol they called it root beer, and that's why today the name means a sweet, 'non-alcoholic' soda flavored with roots.