- an earlier word for of whisky, now only in literary use. A source of courage to adventurers like Burns’ Tam o Shanter (1790) Wi’ usquabae, we'll face the Devil! A later imbiber was David Rorie’s Auld Doctor 1920 who dined each day on the usquebae An’ he washed it doon wi’ haggis. The word comes from Gaelic uisge beatha meaning ‘water of life’.
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