moonshine
To make homemade alcohol, especially distilled spiritsTo make homemade (especially, illicit) alcohol, especially distilled spirits.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Meaning
2 senses(intransitive)To make homemade (especially, illicit) alcohol, especially distilled spirits.
His grandfather started to moonshine when things got really bad in 1933; when he got caught moonshining, he did a bit of time.
distill (alcohol) illegally; produce moonshine
(transitive)To make (an ingredient) into such a drink.
Origin
From Middle English mone schyne, mone-schyne, moone shone; equivalent to moon + shine. IllFrom 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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
moonshines, moonshining, moonshined, moonshinedregular · Lesson
| Base form | moonshine · to moonshine |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | moonshines |
| Present participle | moonshining |
| Past simple | moonshined |
| Past participle | moonshined |
Tenses
moonshine · moonshined · will moonshine · have moonshinedPoint at a form to see it in a sentence.Tap a form to see it in a sentence.
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.