moonshine en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈmuːnʃaɪn/
- (Southern-England) audio
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.
Meanings
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(countable, literally, uncountable) The light of the moon.
[…] 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 […]
1666 September 11 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “September 2nd, 1666”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume (please specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:[…] 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.
1690, [John] Dryden, Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosia’s. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […]; and M. Tonson […], published 1691, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 11:[…] O Nymph more bright than moon-ſhine night, like Kidlings blithe and merry […]
1718, John Gay, “O ruddier than the Cherry”, from Act 2 of George Frideric Handel’s opera Acis and Galatea, page 47So 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, […]
1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:“[…] it would be lovely to sleep in a wild cherry-tree all white with bloom in the moonshine, don’t you think? […]”
1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, chapter II, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC: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.
1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, in Lyrical Ballads, Part I, page 10:[…] 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 […]
c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
- (countable, literally, uncountable) The light of the moon. ▸ The light reflected off Earth's Moon.
- (countable, literally, uncountable) The light of the moon. ▸ The light reflected off a moon.
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(countable, informal, uncountable) High-proof alcohol (especially whiskey) that is often, but not always, produced illegally.
They watered down the moonshine.
“Wish I'd been more polite to that girl,” the sheriff remarked regretfully. […] I know she’d have give me another drink of that old moonshine she has.”
1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter IV, in The Understanding Heart:My great grandpa was a blues lover / He'd be rockin' his moonshine to B.B. King and Jimmy Reed
1974, Betty Davis, “They Say I'm Different”, performed by Betty Davis:
- (UK, archaic, countable, dialectal, uncountable) Smuggled spirits, often with a specific sense; (Kent, Sussex) white brandy; (Yorkshire) gin.
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(informal, uncountable) Nonsense.
He was talking moonshine.
We forget what we have learned in the last 60 years. At university I once asked one of my lecturers why he was not talking to us about continental drift and I was told, sneeringly, that if I could I prove there was a force that could move continents, then he might think about it. The idea was moonshine, I was informed.
2012 October 28, Robin McKie, “David Attenborough: force of nature”, in The Observer, retrieved 29 Oct 2012:“[…] But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be? Suppose you had decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills—Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal?”
1945, George Orwell, chapter 5, in Animal Farm:
- (uncountable) A branch of pure mathematics relating the Monster group to an invariant of elliptic functions.
- (US, countable, uncountable) A spiced dish of eggs and fried onions.
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(countable, obsolete, uncountable) A month.
[…] wherefore ſhould I / Stand in the plague of cuſtome, and permit / The curioſity of Nations to depriue me? / For that I am ſome twelue, or fourteene Moonſhines / Lag of a brother?
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| moon-shine | alternative | lexicographic | |
| moonshines | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
earth-shine · earthshine · Earth-shine · Earthshine
Deriveds
umbral moonshine · eggs in moonshine · moonshiny · moonshiney · moonshine pudding · Mathieu moonshine · monstrous moonshine
Relateds
moon-shine · moon-shine · Moonshine · Moon-shine
Synonyms
moonlight · hooch · coon dick · moon-light · moon light · Moon light · moon light · moon beam · white lightning · bootleg · mountain dew · Moonlight · Moon-light · moonlight · corn liquor · moonbeam · moonlight · moonlight · moon-light · bathtub gin · moon-beam
Translations (45)
bg контрабанден алкохол (illicit liquor) · ga stuif glas (illicit liquor) · et metsakohin (illicit liquor) · pl samogonka (illicit liquor) · ga poitín (illicit liquor) · cmn 私酒 (illicit liquor) · et lepikuliisu (illicit liquor) · pl bimber (illicit liquor) · et peet (illicit liquor) · be самаго́н (illicit liquor) · et samakas (illicit liquor) · nb HB (illicit liquor) · pl księżycówka (illicit liquor) · sv hembränt (illicit liquor) · et samagonn (illicit liquor) · pl krzakówka (illicit liquor) · nb himkok (illicit liquor) · ja 密造酒 (illicit liquor) · nn heimebrent (illicit liquor) · nb hjemmebrent (illicit liquor) · nb heimert (illicit liquor) · ru самого́н (illicit liquor) · uk самого́н (illicit liquor) · fr alcool de contrebande (illicit liquor) · cmn 私酿酒 (illicit liquor) · kk самогон (illicit liquor) · mi paekaka (illicit liquor) · eo brandaĉo (illicit liquor) · vi rượu ngang (illicit liquor) · et puskar (illicit liquor) · fi pontikka (illicit liquor) · pt moonshine (illicit liquor) · ga fuisce baile (illicit liquor) · et hansa (illicit liquor) · de Schwarzbrennerei (illicit liquor) · de schwarzgebrannter Schnaps (illicit liquor) · de Selbstgebrannter (illicit liquor) · nn heimert (illicit liquor) · pl samogon (illicit liquor) · id oplosan (illicit liquor) · sw chang'aa (illicit liquor) · id ciu bensin (illicit liquor) · lt samanė (illicit liquor) · es alcohol ilegal (illicit liquor) · lv kandža (illicit liquor)