a name for any fluid substance of the aqueous or spirituous kind.

The principal beverage amongst the Jews, as well as the Greeks and Romans, in their early state, was water, milk, and the juices of various plants infused therein. For a long time, under the commonwealth of Rome, wine was so scarce, that in their sacrifices to the gods the libations were made with milk only. Wine did not become common there till A.D. C. 600, when vines began to be planted.