John or Sir John Barleycorn. A personification of malt liquor. The term has been made popular by Robert Burns.
“Inspiring bold John Barleycorn,
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!”
Burns: Tam oʹ Shanter, 105, 106.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.