moonshine
/ˈmuːnʃaɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.93 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
High-proof alcohol (especially whiskey) that is often, but not always, produced illegally.
Countable; Informal; Uncountable
noun
Smuggled spirits, often with a specific sense; (Kent, Sussex) white brandy; (Yorkshire) gin.
British usage; Archaic; Countable; Uncountable
noun
A branch of pure mathematics relating the Monster group to an invariant of elliptic functions.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[…] her Waggon Spokes made of long Spinners legs: the Couer of the wings of Graſhoppers, her Traces of the ſmalleſt Spiders web, her coullers of the Moonſhines watry Beames […]"
- "[…] the newes coming every moment of the growth of the fire; so as we were forced to begin to pack up our owne goods; and prepare for their removal; and did by moonshine (it being brave dry, and moonshine, and warm weather) carry much of my goods into the garden […]"
- "[…] I have been in an Ague fit, ever ſince ſhut of Evening; what with the fright of Trees by the High-way, which look'd maliciouſly like Thieves, by Moon-ſhine: and what with Bulruſhes by the River-ſide, that ſhak'd like Spears, and Lances at me."
- "[…] O Nymph more bright than moon-ſhine night, like Kidlings blithe and merry […]"
- "In mist or cloud on mast or shroud / It perch’d for vespers nine, / Whiles all the night thro’ fog smoke-white / Glimmer’d the white moon-shine."
- "So I came forth of the sea and sat down on the edge of an island in the moonshine, where a passer-by found me and, carrying me to the his house, besought me of love-liesse; but I smote him on the head, so that he all but died; whereupon he carried me forth and sold me to the merchant from whom thou hadst me, […]"
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Informal
- British usage
- Archaic
- American usage
- Obsolete
- Intransitive verb