forty-rod en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr Proto-Germanic *fedwōr Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥-t(-s) Proto-Germanic *tegun(dz) Proto-Germanic *tigiwiz Proto-Germanic *fedwōr tigiwiz Proto-West Germanic *feuwar tigiwi Old English fēowertiġ Middle English fourty English forty Old English *rodd Middle English rodde English rod English forty-rod From forty + rod, a measure of distance, suggesting whiskey so strong it can affect one from 200 meters away.
Meanings
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(not-comparable, of whiskey, usually) very strong, containing a high concentration of alcohol
Since it had been laid out so ostentatiously on paper in 1863 it had progressed to the sum total of “two ‘she-bangs’ which fulfill[ed] all requirements of the place by dispensing bacon, coffee, tea, sugar, and calico in limited quantities and forty-rod liquor in unlimited quantities.”
1974, Richard Bartlett, Nature’s Yellowstone, pages 151-152:As a result of their laws in some of the states statistics furnish the facts that more “rot gut” whiskey is used than ever before, the milder and more harmless beverages having been in a measure embargoed by the law by reason of the fact that they cannot so easily be smuggled and handled as the concentrated “forty rod” whiskey.
1887, William Hibbard, Rays of Reason: Or Religion Refuted, page 115: