firewater
nounEtymology
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, Siouan and Athabaskan 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 cannot have existed). The motivation of the name is not entirely clear: It may refer to the “burning” feeling of ingesting high-proof alcohol, or to its flammability; alternatively, it may refer to how low-quality spirits also often included ingredients such as pepper, which burned. Non-alcohol-related senses are simply fire + water.
Informal High-proof alcoholic beverage, especially whiskey (especially in the context of its sale to or consumption by Native Americans).
- High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options:
- Four polite Englishmen in their middle 20s, feigning like firewater drunks in a Eugene O'Neill play: it's exactly the stuff that makes their detractors groan.2012 November 15, Tom Lamont, “How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world”, in The Guardian:
Business, Manufacturing Especially Water for use in firefighting.
- A continuously circulated firewater line supplies a deluge cooling system in each gathering center for fire containment.1981, Energy Progress, page 205:
- A break in a firewater line at BP Whiting Refinery caused water with an oil-like sheen to spread outside the refinery's walls along a section of Indianapolis Boulevard Tuesday night.2015 March 18, Karen Caffarini, “Cause of line break unknown at BP”, in Post-Tribune:
High-temperature hydraulic condensate discharged from industrial boilers.
Obsolete Synonym of alkahest.