MOONSHINE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does moonshine mean? 

• MOONSHINE (noun)
  The noun MOONSHINE has 2 senses:

1. the light of the Moon

2. whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash

  Familiarity information: MOONSHINE used as a noun is rare.

• MOONSHINE (verb)
  The verb MOONSHINE has 1 sense:

1. distill (alcohol) illegally; produce moonshine

  Familiarity information: MOONSHINE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOONSHINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The light of the Moon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

Moon; moonlight; moonshine

Context example:

the Moon was bright enough to read by

Hypernyms ("moonshine" is a kind of...):

light; visible light; visible radiation ((physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation)

Meronyms (parts of "moonshine"):

moon-ray; moon ray; moonbeam (a ray of moonlight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

bootleg; corn liquor; moonshine

Hypernyms ("moonshine" is a kind of...):

corn; corn whiskey; corn whisky (whiskey distilled from a mash of not less than 80 percent corn)

Derivation:

moonshine (distill (alcohol) illegally; produce moonshine)

• MOONSHINE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Distill (alcohol) illegally; produce moonshine

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "moonshine" is one way to...):

distil; distill; extract (extract by the process of distillation)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

moonshine (whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash)

moonshiner (someone who makes or sells illegal liquor)

 Context examples 

“Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog,” said Holmes, laughing.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“The lamp, Aylward! This moonshine softens a man's heart. Now we may use the eyes which God hath given us.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see Quincey Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great yew-tree.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The western end was already steeped in moonshine; the rest, and the block house itself, still lay in a black shadow chequered with long silvery streaks of light.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I got up in an instant; and orders being given to clear the way before me, and it being likewise a moonshine night, I made a shift to get to the palace without trampling on any of the people.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

We came at last to the wooden gate with the high stone pillars by the roadside, and, looking through between the rails, we saw the long avenue of oaks, and at the end of this ill-boding tunnel, the pale face of the house glimmered in the moonshine.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Between the two an open glade stretched, silvered in the moonshine, with the river curving across the lower end of it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)