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The meaning of beverage

What sort of word is this? According to Wikipedia, beverage is used to describe a drink that has been prepared for human consumption. Perhaps a bottle of Evian is in and a sup from the tap is out! According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, beverage comes from the Latin, bibere, by way of the Old French beuvrage. In the COD it is listed next to bevy (plural bevies) but my edition only allows that to mean a flock of quails or larks; or a company of group of women; and not a few beers! My only problem with the word beverage is that it just does not sound great, it does not sound liquid, and it does not sound refreshing. The beauty of the word- for local retailers - is beverage mostly comes with high margin potential. As Mark Sterratt of gsk recently told Retail Newsagent, "You'd need to sell three packets of crisps to get the same profit as one soft drink."
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