subs. phr. (colloquial).—1. Weak beer; hence (2) trifles. Whence TO CHRONICLE SMALL BEER = (1) to engage in trivial occupations, and (2) to retail petty scandal; TO THINK SMALL BEER OF ANYTHING = to have a poor opinion of it. Also SMALL THINGS. As adj. = petty.
1604. SHAKESPEARE, Othello, ii. 1, 161. To suckle fools and CHRONICLE SMALL BEER.
d. 1666. A. BROME, Works [CHALMERS, vi. 648, 1], ‘To His Friend That Had Vowed Small-Beer.’
| Dost think by turning anchorite, | |
| Or a dull SMALL-BEER sinner, | |
| Thy cold embraces can invite, | |
| Or sprightless courtship win her? |
1711–2. ADDISON, Spectator, No. 269, 8 Nov. I allow a double quantity of malt to my SMALL BEER.
1834. SOUTHEY, The Doctor, Interch., xvi. He thought SMALL BEER at that time of some very great patriots and Queenites.
1840. DE QUINCEY, Style [Works, xi. 174]. Should express her self-esteem by the popular phrase, that she did not ‘think SMALL BEER OF HERSELF.’
1844. THACKERAY, Barry Lyndon, xiv. All the news of sport, assize, and quarter-sessions were detailed by this worthy CHRONICLER OF SMALL BEER. Ibid. (1855), The Newcomes, xxxix. She THINKS SMALL BEER of painters, J. J.—well, well, we don’t THINK SMALL BEER of ourselves, my noble friend.
1853. BULWER-LYTTON, My Novel, IV. xii. When I say that sum un is gumptious, I mean—though that’s more vulgar like—sum un who does not THINK SMALL BEER of hisself.
1880. The Academy, 25 Sept., 219. Two such chroniclers of SMALL BEER as Boswell and Erskine.
1902. Pall Mall Gazette, 19 Sept., 1. 3. Vogler had reason to think no SMALL THINGS of himself. He was emphatically the popular man of his day; he was followed by enthusiastic admirers.
