ardent spirits

American  

plural noun

1. strong alcoholic liquors made by distillation, as brandy, whiskey, or gin.

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ardent spirits British  

plural noun

1. spirits, such as rum, whisky, etc

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Etymology

Origin of ardent spirits

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ardent spirits

Yet the nation's most famous glutton spurned ardent spirits for orange juice and lemon pop.

From Time Magazine Archive

Though never a strict abstainer, I have wrought as an operative mason for whole twelvemonths together, in which I did not consume half-a-dozen glasses of ardent spirits, or partake of half-a-dozen draughts of fermented liquor.

From My Schools and Schoolmasters or The Story of my Education. by Hugh Miller

Fire′-stick, the implement used by many primitive peoples for obtaining fire by friction; Fire′stone, a kind of sandstone that bears a high degree of heat; Fire′-wa′ter, ardent spirits; Fire′wood, wood for burning.—n.pl.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Why should the few be protected from the sale of ardent spirits and the many left to be victims of temptation?

From Stand Up, Ye Dead by Norman Maclean

He drank no ardent spirits, nor much coffee and tea; he used very little tobacco, and he ate in great moderation.

From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott