Beverage - Definition and Overview

The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids, see Drinking.
As a noun, it refers to the liquid thus ingested. It is often used in a narrower sense to refer to alcoholic beverages (as both a verb and a noun).
It can also be used metaphorically, as in to drink in the scenery.

A beverage is a drink specifically prepared for human consumption. Almost always it largely consists of water. These include:

• Water, from the tap or from a bottle
• Juice, for example fruit juices, vegetable juices, which may be fresh or made from a concentrate.
• Soft drinks
  • Aguas frescas
  • Lemonade
  • Orange drink
  • Carbonated drinks (generally called sodas in the Eastern U.S., pop in the Midwestern U.S., and cokes in the Southern U.S.), including just carbonated water
    • Cola
    • Ginger ale
    • Root beer, Sarsaparilla
    • Cream soda
  • Squash, a fruit-flavoured syrup diluted with water.
• Sports drinks
• Infusions
  • Coffee
  • Tea
• Dairy drinks, for example milk, yogurt drink, chocolate milk, milkshake, egg nog
  • Almond milk, Horchata
• Alcoholic beverages
• Cocktails - mixed drinks
• Hot beverages, for example coffee, tea, hot chocolate, hot cider, cappuccino
• Pearl milk tea, aka Boba Milk Tea, is a tea drink popular in China and among overseas Chinese.

Some substances may either be called food or drink, and accordingly be eaten with a spoon or drunk, depending on solid ingredients in it and on how thick it is, and on preference:

• Soup
• Yogurt

Hot beverages and hot food can cause burns when drunk or eaten too hot and/or too fast, and when spilled. See also McDonald's coffee case.

See also:

Wikibooks Cookbook has more about this subject:

Beverages

food, vacuum flask, List of cocktails.