moonshine
- Noun:
- Illegally produced distilled spirits, typically whiskey: "Moonshine" refers to high-proof alcohol, often corn whiskey, that is produced and distributed without government authorization or taxation.
- Moonlight; the light of the moon: "Moonshine" is a literary or old-fashioned term for the light reflected from the moon's surface.
Noun (Illegal Alcohol): The police raided the still and confiscated several gallons of moonshine.In the Appalachian mountains, making moonshine was once a common way to earn a living.
Noun (Moonlight): They walked home by the pale moonshine.The path was visible in the bright moonshine.
"To make/peddle moonshine": to illegally produce or sell distilled alcohol. His grandfather used to make moonshine during Prohibition.
"As useless/empty as moonshine": (figurative, based on the "nonsense" meaning) describing something as worthless or nonsensical. His promises turned out to be as empty as moonshine.
Moonshiner (n): a person who illegally makes or sells moonshine. The revenuers were after the notorious moonshiner.
Moonshining (n): the illegal activity of producing moonshine. Moonshining was a risky but profitable business.
- For illegal alcohol: bootleg, hooch, white lightning, homebrew.
- For moonlight: moonlight, moonbeam.
- "Shine": (slang, shortening) often used to refer to moonshine whiskey.
- "Moonlight and moonshine": used to contrast reality (moonlight) with fantasy or deception (moonshine as nonsense).
- whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash
- the light of the Moon
- moonlight is the smuggler's enemy
- the Moon was bright enough to read by
- distill (alcohol) illegally; produce moonshine