corn liquor
3
9.0
- noun
- /kɔrn ˈlɪkər/
- NSFW
:
licor de maíz
- Their tent reeked of wet horses, tobacco, corn liquor, and the men themselves.
- drinking corn liquor
- making corn liquor
Examples
-
I'll take and add a little corn liquor and sugar to it.
Fiction book (1997) -
What you need is a wee drinkie of this good corn liquor.
-
We used to make corn liquor out of this.
-
I asked him to bring corn liquor.
-
Now, can someone please pass the corn liquor over here?
Blog text (1) -
I make the best home brew and corn liquor around here.
-
He got to drinking that corn liquor.
Fiction book (1990) -
JC would give us forty dollars and all the free corn liquor we could drink.
Fiction book (1993) -
"Give me something to drink," Yang Wei poured him a mug of corn liquor.
Fiction book (1994) -
The old distillery produced corn liquor known for its smooth taste and high alcohol content.
Synonyms
342
3.2
A strong alcoholic drink made by distilling, like whiskey or vodka
282
2.8
A drink with alcohol that people make from grain and leave in wooden barrels to age
19
7.9
Alcohol illegally made at home, often strong whiskey
16
9.9
Alcohol made illegally, often tasting harsh
10
8.4
Alcohol made and sold illegally, often secretly
8
3.9
An alcoholic drink stronger than beer or wine, like whiskey and vodka
2
9.9
An illegal homemade alcoholic drink that people make secretly and that tastes bad
1
5.6
An alcoholic drink made mostly from corn, traditionally from the United States
An illegal whiskey made at home in Ireland without official permission
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositionally built from 'corn' (maize) and 'liquor' (a distilled alcoholic spirit), so a B1 learner who knows both words will infer it refers to alcohol made from corn. The colloquial/illegal connotation (moonshine) is an extra pragmatic detail not fully signalled by the constituents, but the referent as a corn-based spirit is directly derivable. Such ingredient+product compounds are cross-linguistically common, supporting transparency.
Etymology
Corn liquor comes from a clear image: people making strong liquor from the grain corn in hidden pots and equipment in barns or woods, often at night by moonlight to hide from the law. That's why corn liquor means 'illegal whiskey made from corn'.