small beer
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Properly, beer of only slight alcoholic strength; hence, trivialities, persons or things of small consequence.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “small beer” mean?
Properly, beer of only slight alcoholic strength; hence, trivialities, persons or things of small consequence.
Is “small beer” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.