small beer

SEE SYNONYMS FOR small beer ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

weak beer.
Chiefly British Slang. matters or persons of little or no importance.

Origin of small beer

First recorded in 1560–70

Words nearby small beer

smacking, small, small advertisement, small arm, small arms, small beer, small business administration, small calorie, small cane, small capital, small cardiac vein

Example sentences from the Web for small beer

British Dictionary definitions for small beer

small beer

noun

informal, mainly British people or things of no importance

Idioms and Phrases with small beer

small beer

Also, small potatoes. Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer, or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes. The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry, def. 2.