small beer

noun

1. weak beer.
2. Chiefly British Slang. matters or persons of little or no importance.

small beer

noun

1. informal.
   people or things of no importance

Word History and Origins

Origin of small beer¹

First recorded in 1560–70

Idioms and Phrases

Also, small potatoes . Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer , or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes . The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry , def. 2.

Example Sentences

“On the other hand, we may not need to do as much small beer.”

From Science Magazine

"But it's small beer in terms of the overall value of the project they are building and the profit that they will take out of that," he added.

From BBC

The soju will be served with shot glasses, while the beer is often served with small beer glasses.

From Salon

But Close didn’t drink much at the time and was mocked by his peers for ordering only small beers.

From Washington Post

At the blog Why Evolution is True, biostatistician Gregory Mayer described Farina and Gibbon's findings as "small beer."

From Salon