beer o'clock

English

WOTD – 2 April 2018

Pronunciation

Two people clinking glasses of beer

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbɪə(ɹ) əˈklɒk/, /ˌbɪə(ɹ) əʊˈklɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbɪɹ əˈklɑk/, /ˌbɪɹ oʊˈklɑk/, /ˌbiə̯ɹ əˈklɑk/

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

beer o'clock (uncountable)

1. (slang, humorous) The time of the first beer (or alcoholic beverage) of the day.
   • 1999 February 22, Christopher Somerville, The Observer:

     Pack an esky with ice-cold bottles of Cooper's Green Label and head down to Holloways Beach, just north of Cairns, around beer o'clock on a Friday afternoon.

   • 1999 April 6, Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN; Pocket Books paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, May 2017, →ISBN, page 84:

     He let her go and stood up. "I also believe it's beer o'clock. You want some iced tea?"

   • 2006, Arthur J. Binks, “Santa Cruz”, in Wine, Women and Sailing, Cambridge: Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 89:

     One big rule that we never ever break is to open a can of ale before beer o'clock. Luckily this can be anytime between 1000 and 1300 hours and woe-betide anyone on watch who forgets to waken the other at this crucial time of day.

   • 2013, Dave Lewis, chapter 62, in Raising Skinny Elephants, [Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales]: Ponty Press, →ISBN, page 231:

     When Hal woke up he decided it was beer o'clock and had the girls' permission to wander down the road for a few pints before tea.

2. (slang, humorous) Time for a beer (the first of the day or otherwise).

   Questioner: What time is it? Answerer: It's beer o'clock.

   • 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 58:

     Calling at Stalybridge, I cast one eye at the refreshment rooms and one eye at my watch, but 'beer o'clock' it isn't! Besides, I have a long way to travel!

Translations

time of the first beer (or alcoholic beverage) of the day

• Finnish: oluen aika
• Russian: пивнадцать часов m (pivnadcatʹ časov), пивнадцатый час m pl (pivnadcatyj čas)
• Ukrainian: пивнадцята година f (pyvnadcjata hodyna)

See also

• the sun is over the yardarm
• o-dark-thirty (comparable as a jocular time-of-day reference)
• wine o'clock (the wine-related counterpart of beer o'clock)