hootch
UK[huːtʃ]US[huːtʃ]
n
Alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or illegally made or obtained whiskey.
Etymology
The word 'hootch' is an American English alteration of 'hooch', which itself is a shortening of 'Hoochinoo', the name of a Tlingit tribe from Alaska. The Hoochinoo people were known for producing a potent distilled liquor. The term entered wider American English during the late 19th century, particularly during the Klondike Gold Rush, as a generic name for strong, often illicitly made alcohol. It exemplifies a common linguistic process where a proper noun, through association with a specific product, becomes a common noun for that category of item.
Analysis
This word is a loanword and is not productively formed from separable English morphemes. It is treated as a simplex unit.
Examples
The old prospector kept a bottle of homemade hootch under his bunk.
During Prohibition, many people turned to bootleggers for their supply of hootch.
The moonshine they sold at the backwoods still was powerful, rough hootch.