Beer n.
 1. A fermented liquor made from any malted grain, but commonly from barley malt, with hops or some other substance to impart a bitter flavor.
 Note: ☞ Beer has different names, as small beer, ale, porter, brown stout, lager beer, according to its strength, or other qualities. See Ale.
 2. A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc.
 Small beer, weak beer; (fig.) insignificant matters. “To suckle fools, and chronicle small beer.”
 In one of the less surprising revelations of the year,
 researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and
 colleagues have confirmed that excessive consumption of beer
 can lead to the condition commonly known as beer belly.  At
 the same time, however, they discovered that, beyond aesthetic
 concerns, the condition may point to health hazards of a more
 serious nature. In a comparison of beer drinkers and wine
 drinkers, the scientists found that beer tends to build a
 central paunch, or “potbelly”, while wine drinkers tend to
 have narrower waists, even when the same amount of alcohol and
 calories is consumed by both.   --The Scientist -- December 11, 1995.

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 Brown a. [Compar. Browner superl. Brownest.]  Of a dark color, of various shades between black and red or yellow.
    Cheeks brown as the oak leaves.   --Longfellow.
 Brown Bess, the old regulation flintlock smoothbore musket, with bronzed barrel, formerly used in the British army.
 Brown bread (a) Dark colored bread; esp. a kind made of unbolted wheat flour, sometimes called in the United States Graham bread. “He would mouth with a beggar though she smelt brown bread and garlic.” --Shak. (b) Dark colored bread made of rye meal and Indian meal, or of wheat and rye or Indian; rye and Indian bread. [U.S.]
 Brown coal, wood coal. See Lignite.
 Brown hematite or Brown iron ore Min., the hydrous iron oxide, limonite, which has a brown streak. See Limonite.
 Brown holland. See under Holland.
 Brown paper, dark colored paper, esp. coarse wrapping paper, made of unbleached materials.
 Brown spar Min., a ferruginous variety of dolomite, in part identical with ankerite.
 Brown stone. See Brownstone.
 Brown stout, a strong kind of porter or malt liquor.
 Brown study, a state of mental abstraction or serious reverie.