"squirrel whiskey" meaning in English

See squirrel whiskey in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: According to a widely repeated jocular explanation, “it [makes] those who [drink] it inclined to climb a tree,”; but the term is more plausibly explained by the fact that “squirrels were often drowned in the open-air mash-tubs used by moonshiners” and/or that the liquor was aged “by tying the keg in a tall pine tree”. Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} squirrel whiskey (uncountable)
  1. (Canada, US, slang, obsolete) High-proof, low-quality whiskey, generally produced illegally. Wikipedia link: H. L. Mencken Tags: Canada, US, obsolete, slang, uncountable Synonyms: hooch, moonshine, red-eye, rotgut
    Sense id: en-squirrel_whiskey-en-noun-mt4oUHb5 Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
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  "etymology_text": "According to a widely repeated jocular explanation, “it [makes] those who [drink] it inclined to climb a tree,”; but the term is more plausibly explained by the fact that “squirrels were often drowned in the open-air mash-tubs used by moonshiners” and/or that the liquor was aged “by tying the keg in a tall pine tree”.",
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          "ref": "1891, “Letter to the editor”, in The Railway Conductor, volume 8, number 6, page 191:",
          "text": "[…] he slept of[f] his load of squirrel whiskey and went home forgetting a duty for which he was discharged.",
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          "ref": "1927, Morley Callaghan, “Amuck in the Bush”, in Morley Callaghan’s Stories, published 1959, page 83:",
          "text": "He left the yard and went down past the station, cutting across the tracks north of the water-tower, intending to drink squirrel whiskey in Luke Horton’s flour and feed store at the end of Main Street.",
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          "ref": "1960, James A. McRae, chapter 11, in Call Me Tomorrow, page 108:",
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          "ref": "2014, Robert Olen Butler, chapter 39, in The Empire of Night, page 252:",
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          "word": "red-eye"
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          "word": "red-eye"
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}

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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 2026-06-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (ade7ec3 and 7f4db16). 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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