Dictionary

rotgut en · NOUN

Etymology

From rot + gut.

Meanings

1. (slang, uncountable, usually) Raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor.
   • His mother, Dorothy, hung around longer, long enough for her to choke on her own vomit. She had that taste—rotgut, the rougher the better. 2019 July 16, Colson Whitehead, chapter 10, in The Nickel Boys, Vintage, page 125:
   • Near-synonym: red-eye
   • Then the harpooner carried away a pink flask to be filled in some blind pig, for there were no licensed saloons in that locality. We drank the cheap rotgut out of tumblers. 1913 August, Jack London, chapter VI, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 48:

Forms

Hypernyms

alcoholic beverage · homebrew

Synonyms

corn liquor · rotgut · hooch · swill · moonshine · hooch · gut rot · firewater · white lightning · mountain dew · bug juice · red-eye · poteen

Translations (13)

de Fusel (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · mk брзосмртка (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · bg парцуца (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · fi pontikka (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · ru косорыловка (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · pl berbelucha (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · fr tord-boyaux (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · ru шмурдяк (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · ru бормоту́ха (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · es matarratas (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · ca mata-rates (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · pt zurrapa (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor) · uk шмурдяк (raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor)