English

Alternative forms

• benbouse, ben-bouze, bene bouse, bien bowse

Noun

bene bowse

1. (archaic, Britain, cant) Good beer.
   • 1566, Harman, Thomas, A Caveat Or Warning for Common Cursetors, Vulgarly Called Vagabonds, London: Reeves and Turner, published 1871, page 118:

     Why, where is the ken that hath the bene bowse.

   • 1641–42, Brome, Richard, A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars, Act 2:

     This is bene bowse, this is bene bowse, / Too little is my skew. / I bowse no lage, but a whole gage / Of this I'll bowse to you

References

• Grose, Francis (1788) A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: S. Hooper
• Farmer, John Stephen (1890) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 1, pages 176–179