off-licence en · NOUN
Etymology
From the fact that such stores have a licence only to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises.
Meanings
-
(Ireland, UK) A shop selling alcohol for consumption only off the premises.
Rolliver's inn, the single alehouse at this end of the long and broken village, could only boast of an off-license; hence, as nobody could legally drink on the premises, the amount of overt accommodation for consumers was strictly limited to a little board about six inches wide and two yards long, fixed to the garden palings by pieces of wire, so as to form a ledge.
1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 40:After six such encounters in tiny corner shops which normally complained that they were out of sugar, that the cornflakes were late in again and that they couldn't get tomato sauce for love nor money, the Captain, his head reeling, had staggered into the High Street off-licence.
1992, Robert Rankin, The Antipope, page 123:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| off licence | alternative | lexicographic | |
| off-license | alternative | lexicographic | |
| off-licences | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
fully licensed · off-sale · off-trade
Synonyms
bottle shop · liquor store · off-sale · beer-off · offy