mountain dew meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

mountain dew

nounalso spelled Mountain Dew

Etymology So called because it was often illicitly distilled in the mountains.

Ireland, Southern US Illegally distilled whiskey.

[…] and a big-bellied bottle of old whiskey — for there is nothing like mountain-dew taken internally for resisting the effects of night mists.1837 November, “Leistering Salmon by Torch-Light”, in New Sporting Magazine, volume XIII, number 79, page 310:
c. 1870s, George Etell Sargent, The Story of a City Arab, Religious Tract Society, page 387. How they were employed was manifest from the strong perfume of tobacco and mountain dew (illicit whisky) which, striking upon me as I entered, almost overpowered my senses, […]

Trinidad and Tobago Illegally distilled rum.

noun

Etymology From mountain dew (“illegally distilled whiskey”).

A brand of citrus-flavored, carbonated, heavily caffeinated beverage.

In 1985 a Mountain Dew commercial started popping up on TV ....2003, Mat Hoffman with Mark Lewman, The Ride of My Life, page 33:
It has become a signature of the Koffee Kup, as much as the flower boxes filled with geraniums and the classic Mountain Dew sign hanging off the front of the building2004, Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, Cafe Wisconsin: A Guide to Wisconsin's Down-Home Cafes, page 210:

1 more example

The thing is, Rob Harris did die, he died shooting a Mountain Dew ad2007, Bill Brioux, Truth and Rumors: The Reality Behind TV's Most Famous Myths, page 57:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for mountain dew and Mountain Dew.