bourbon

Etymology

From "bourbon whiskey", originally "Bourbon whiskey", of disputed provenance. Generally taken to derive from Bourbon County, Kentucky, but possibly also from Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Both derive from the French Bourbon dynasty, named for the lordship of French Bourbon l'Archambault. The town's name derives from Borvo, a local Celtic deity associated with hot springs, from Proto-Celtic *borvo (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to be hot, boil”). See also Borvo.

noun

1. A whiskey distilled from a mixture of grains in which at least 51% is corn, aged in charred, new oak barrels. Made in the United States.
2. A serving of bourbon whiskey.
   It concerns the gnomelike quality of the average American at a party. I have been to many parties where staid American business men have been transformed by a few ryes or bourbons into unpredictable gremlins out for adventure. 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 17
3. A Bourbon biscuit.