white lightning

noun

Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.

1. moonshine.

Word History and Origins

Origin of white lightning¹

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

Seeing the navy uniform with gold-lined white lightning bolts “struck me at the core,” Jefferson said.

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“Our relationship is really tight, obviously, to give him a little handoffs here and there, you know, somebody said they call him ‘White Lightning,'” Wilson said with a chuckle.

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Jones, a country music legend in the making, had slipped a bit since his hits “White Lightning” and “She Thinks I Still Care,” and he was known to disappear on marathon benders.

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Others to pay tribute included comedian Patton Oswalt, who said Beatty had given "chilling, villainous turns" in 1973's White Lightning and 1976's Mikey and Nicky.

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He was equally memorable as Otis, the idiot henchman of villainous Lex Luthor in the first two Christopher Reeve "Superman" movies and as the racist sheriff in "White Lightning."

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