rotgut

[rot-guht]

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noun Slang.

cheap and inferior liquor.

Origin of rotgut

First recorded in 1590–1600; rot + gut

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rotgut

drink, alcohol, liquor, Scotch, distillery, bourbon, smoke, booze, methanol, ethanol, bootleg, firewater, hooch, moonshine, distiller, corn, rye, poteen, moonshiner, intoxicant

Examples from the Web for rotgut

Historical Examples of rotgut

It must be the rotgut from l'Assommoir that was hacking away inside him.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
Men always say a whole lot when theyre full of rotgut, unless they get nasty.
The Plunderer
Roy Norton
"That's all that rotgut's good for," the customer said, jumping over the counter.
Null-ABC
Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire
Now he was the official distiller, and the rotgut he produced was the only thing that made existence bearable.
The Colonists
Raymond F. Jones
I'd sooner have had a pint of old Stringybark, too, than a bucketful of their rotgut liquors.
The Gully of Bluemansdyke
A. Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for rotgut

rotgut

noun

facetious, slang alcoholic drink, esp spirits, of inferior quality

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rotgut

also rot-gut, "unwholesome liquor," 1630s, from rot (v.) + gut (n.).