moonshine means the light of the moon. It carries an Arena rating of 1858, earned across 78 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, moonshine ranks #239 of 42,752 for Qualifying, #458 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #508 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #543 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
moonshine is pronounced /ˈmuːnʃaɪn/.
Why “moonshine” is a great word
Illegally distilled or smuggled liquor, especially unaged corn whiskey. From Middle English *mone schyne* (moonlight), from *moon* + *shine*, the sense of illicit liquor, attested by the late 18th century, derives from the practice of distilling or smuggling it at night by moonlight. Unlike 'whiskey,' a sanctioned, aged spirit from a licensed distillery, or 'bootleg,' a broad term for contraband of any kind, moonshine is defined by its furtive, nocturnal craft. It is the copper coil sweating in an Appalachian hollow, the sharp, fiery burn of a spirit too young for patience, and the precarious economy of a mason jar passed in a dark field—a liquid testament to the persistence of making light from shadow, and profit from prohibition.
Etymology
From Middle English mone schyne, mone-schyne, moone shone; equivalent to moon + shine. Illegally distilled liquor is so named because its manufacture may be conducted without artificial light at night. The verb sense is a back-formation from moonshiner.
noun
- The light of the moon.
- The light of the moon.; The light reflected off Earth's Moon.
- The light of the moon.; The light reflected off a moon.
- High-proof alcohol (especially whiskey) that is often, but not always, produced illegally.e.g.“They watered down the moonshine.”
- Smuggled spirits, often with a specific sense; (Kent, Sussex) white brandy; (Yorkshire) gin.
- Nonsense.e.g.“He was talking moonshine.”
- A branch of pure mathematics relating the Monster group to an invariant of elliptic functions.
- A spiced dish of eggs and fried onions.
- A month.
verb
- To make homemade (especially, illicit) alcohol, especially distilled spirits.e.g.“His grandfather started to moonshine when things got really bad in 1933; when he got caught moonshining, he did a bit of time.”
- To make (an ingredient) into such a drink.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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