hooch

¹ American  

[hooch] / hutʃ /

Or hootch

noun

Slang.

1. alcoholic liquor.

2. liquor illicitly distilled and distributed.

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hooch ² American  

[hooch] / hutʃ /

Also hoochie or hootch

noun

Military Slang.

1. a thatched hut of southeast Asia.

2. any living quarters, as a barracks.

3. (especially during the Korean War)

   1. a prostitute's dwelling.

   2. any place, as a house, room, or shack, where a serviceman sets up housekeeping with a local woman.

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Hooch ³ American  

[hooch, hohkh] / hutʃ, hoʊx /

noun

1. Pieter de 1629?–88?, Dutch painter.

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Hooch ¹ British  

/ huːtʃ, hoːx /

noun

1. Pieter de (ˈpiːtər də). 1629–?1684, Dutch genre painter, noted esp for his light effects

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hooch ² British  

/ huːtʃ /

noun

1. informal alcoholic drink, esp illicitly distilled spirits

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Etymology

Origin of hooch¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; shortening of hoochinoo

Origin of hooch²

First recorded in 1950–55; probably from Japanese uchi “house” (by back formation, construing -i as -y ² ); initial h perhaps by association with hut or from Ryukyuan dialectal form of uchi with prefixed h-

Example Sentences

In a fit of anger, he took the Guam flag out of his vest and ran it up a makeshift flagpole outside his hooch, 20 feet into the sky, violating military policy.

From New York Times

Your opinion of it might depend on your opinion of spending a 3 a.m. in some dungeon of a bar sipping some sort of unregulated hooch.

From Washington Post

“He volunteered to go to Iraq for a year. Unfortunately, his hooch was right next to one of those burn pits.”

From Washington Times

Or was it a name conjured up by Evans & Ragland to give some prestige to a local farmer’s hooch?

From New York Times

The distillers of backwoods Appalachia revealed the American hooch has been in greater demand during tough times.

From Fox News

Related Words

• alcohol
• drink
• liquor
• spirits