[boo
r-buhn, bawr-, bohr- or, Fr., boor-bawn for 1–3; bur-buhn for 4 or, occasionally for 3] 
| 1. | a member of a French royal family that ruled in France 1589–1792, Spain 1700–1931, and Naples 1735–1806, 1815–60. |
| 2. | Charles [sharl] , (“Constable de Bourbon”), 1490–1527, French general. |
| 3. | a person who is extremely conservative or reactionary. |
| 4. | (lowercase) Also called bourbon whiskey. a straight whiskey distilled from a mash having 51 percent or more corn: originally the corn whiskey produced in Bourbon County, Kentucky. |
| bour·bon (bûr'bən) n. A whiskey distilled from a fermented mash containing not less than 51 percent corn in addition to malt and rye. [After Bourbon County in northeast Kentucky.] |
| Bour·bon 1 (bŏŏr'bən, bōōr-bôɴ') French royal family descended from Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (1270?-1342), whose members have ruled in France (1589-1793 and 1814-1830), Spain (1700-1868, 1874-1931, and since 1975), and Naples and Sicily (1734-1860). |
| Bour·bon 2 (bûr'bən) n. A sociopolitical reactionary, especially a southern Democrat with highly conservative views. [After the Bourbon family.] |
| Bour·bon (bŏŏr'bən, bōōr-bôɴ') French general who served Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, led a failed invasion of France (1524), and was killed while leading a German-Spanish assault on Rome. |