moonshine
pronunciation
How to pronounce moonshine in British English:
UK [ˈmu:nʃaɪn]
How to pronounce moonshine in American English:
US [ˈmunˌʃaɪn]
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- Noun:
- the light of the moon
- whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash
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- Verb:
- distill (alcohol) illegally; produce moonshine
Word Origin
- moonshine (n.)
- c. 1500, "moonlight," from moon (n.) + shine (n.). In figurative use, implying "appearance without substance," from late 15c.; perhaps connected in that sense with notion of "moonshine in water" (see moonraker). Meaning "illicit liquor" is attested from 1785 (earliest reference is to that smuggled on the coasts of Kent and Sussex); moonlight also occasionally was used in this sense early 19c. As a verb from 1883. Related: Moonshiner (1860).
Example
- 1. The lecture was as harmless as moonshine to them .
- 2. Brewers are hoping that , as incomes continue to rise in india and china , drinkers will abandon moonshine , tea and other poisonous muck , and upgrade to premium beer .
- 3. Suspicion fell at first on unregulated moonshine , made on sugar-cane farms in the western lowlands and andean valleys .