kill-the-beggar

Definitions

Cheap and poor-quality whiskey.

Ireland, obsolete, slang, uncountable

Examples

“In your examination of Monday, you spoke of kill-the-beggar-whiskey; has any analysis been made of that whiskey?”

“To men of common gumption, / Hot strange, besides, must seem / At this time any scheme / To put⟳ a check upon potheen's consumption, / When all are calling for Irish Poor Laws! / Instead of framing more laws, / To pauperism if you'd give⟳ a pegger, / Don't check, but patronise their "Kill-the-Beggar!" / If Pat is apt to go in Irish Linen, / (Buttoning his coat, with nothing but his skin in) / Would any Christian man -- that's quite himself, / His wits not floor'd, or laid upon the shelf --, While blaming Pat for raggedness, poor boy, / Would deprive him of his "Corduroy!"”

“The quality of the liquor served in the spirit grocers was poor and often adulterated, said [John] Edgar. He gave an example of a whiskey known as 'kill⟳ the beggar' in Belfast because 'it first makes the beggar and then kills the beggar'. There was an even worse concoction called 'corduroy', so named because it gave a rough feeling on the tongue and palate.”

CEFR level