hooch English · revision 1967

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /huːt͡ʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is short for ''hoochinoo'',^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) a liquor distilled by the Hoochinoo (Hutsnuwu), a Tlingit people of Alaska,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) whose name is said by the OED to mean “grizzly bear fort”.^(Etymonline) An unrelated ''hooch'' “hut” is an alteration of Japanese ''uchi'' “house, inside”.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Alcoholic liquor, especially of low quality or illegally made (1897).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Hoochinoo'' (1877) named the liquor made by the Alaskan people,^(Etymonline) and it became a favourite with miners in the Klondike gold rush of 1898, when real whisky was scarce.^(Etymonline) Shortened to ''hooch'', it came to mean any cheap or illicit liquor,^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) a sense that flourished during Prohibition.^(Wiktionary)^(MW Collegiate) The American Heritage Dictionary also records it as slang for marijuana.^(AHD) The second ''hooch'', for a thatched hut or any simple dwelling, was picked up by American servicemen in Japan and Korea (1950s).^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1877 – ''hoochinoo'', Alaskan liquor.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1897 – ''hooch'', inferior or illicit liquor.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1950–55 – ''hooch'', a hut (separate word).^(RHWU)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(slang)'' Alcoholic liquor, especially cheap or illegally made whisky.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(slang)'' Marijuana.^(AHD)

+ # ''(slang)'' A thatched hut or simple dwelling (a separate word).^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hootch]]

+ * [[moonshine]]

+ * [[bootleg]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}