bourbon
UK[ˈbɜːbən]US[ˈbɜːrbən]
n
A type of American whiskey, distilled from corn mash and aged in charred oak barrels.
n
A reactionary or extremely conservative person, especially in politics (often capitalized).
Etymology
The term originates from Bourbon County, Kentucky, a major early production region for this whiskey. The county itself was named in the 1780s after the French Royal House of Bourbon, in gratitude for French assistance during the American Revolution. The House of Bourbon took its name from the lordship of Bourbon l'Archambault in central France, derived from the Gallo-Roman personal name 'Borbō'. The political sense, denoting an ultra-conservative, derives from the restored French Bourbon monarchy (1814-1830), which was noted for its reactionary policies, and was later applied by analogy to similar political factions elsewhere.
Analysis
The word 'bourbon' is a proper noun adopted as a common noun. It does not contain separable, meaningful morphemes in the context of modern English word formation.
Examples
He ordered a glass of bourbon on the rocks.
The distillery is famous for its small-batch, single-barrel bourbon.
His political views were so rigid that his opponents labeled him a Bourbon.