"firewater" meaning in English

See firewater in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-us-firewater.oga [US] Forms: firewaters [plural]
Etymology: A calque of a Native American language term, probably Ojibwe ishkodewaaboo (“alcohol”), from ishkodew- (“fire”) + -aaboo (“liquid”, glossed in older works as “water”). A number of other Algonquian and Siouan languages also refer to whiskey with compounds that mean "fire-water" (on which basis noted Algonquianist Leonard Bloomfield even reconstructed a Proto-Algonquian word for it, *eškwete·wa·po·wi, although this could not have existed). The motivation of the name is not entirely clear: It may refer to the “burning” feeling of ingesting high-proof alcohol. Low-quality spirits also often included ingredients such as pepper, tobacco juice, molasses, etc. Alternatively it may refer to the flammability of alcohol. Non-alcohol-related senses are simply fire + water. Etymology templates: {{glossary|calque}} calque, {{calque|en|oj|ishkodewaaboo||alcohol|notext=1}} Ojibwe ishkodewaaboo (“alcohol”), {{m|oj|ishkode|ishkodew-|fire}} ishkodew- (“fire”), {{m|oj|-aaboow|-aaboo|liquid”, glossed in older works as “water}} -aaboo (“liquid”, glossed in older works as “water”), {{m|alg-pro||*eškwete·wa·po·wi}} *eškwete·wa·po·wi, {{compound|en|fire|water}} fire + water Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} firewater (countable and uncountable, plural firewaters)
  1. (informal) High-proof alcohol, especially whiskey (especially in the context of its sale to or consumption by Native Americans). Tags: countable, informal, uncountable Synonyms: alcoholic beverage Translations (high proof alcohol): ohnivá voda (Czech), ildvand [neuter] (Danish), vuurwater [neuter] (Dutch), tuliliemi (Finnish), Feuerwasser [neuter] (German), Füerwater [German-Low-German, neuter] (Low German), Füerwoter [German-Low-German, neuter] (Low German), aguardente (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-firewater-en-noun-ICxcNLgw Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English oxymorons Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 66 30 5 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 66 25 9 Disambiguation of English oxymorons: 73 22 6 Disambiguation of 'high proof alcohol': 100 0 0
  2. High-temperature hydraulic condensate discharged from industrial boilers. Tags: countable, uncountable Translations (high temperature hydraulic condensate): tulistettu vesi (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-firewater-en-noun-AZs7LmyJ Disambiguation of 'high temperature hydraulic condensate': 7 84 9
  3. (manufacturing) Water for use in firefighting. Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Manufacturing Translations (water for use in firefighting): bluswater (Dutch), eau d’extinction (French), Löschwasser (German)
    Sense id: en-firewater-en-noun-x92xo6Bo Topics: business, manufacturing Disambiguation of 'water for use in firefighting': 2 1 96

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for firewater meaning in English (6.2kB)

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      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "high proof alcohol",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "Feuerwasser"
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      "sense": "high proof alcohol",
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      "sense": "high temperature hydraulic condensate",
      "word": "tulistettu vesi"
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      "sense": "water for use in firefighting",
      "word": "eau d’extinction"
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      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "water for use in firefighting",
      "word": "Löschwasser"
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  "word": "firewater"
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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