firewater

Meaning

1. (countable, informal, uncountable) High-proof alcoholic beverage, especially whiskey (especially in the context of its sale to or consumption by Native Americans).
2. (countable, especially, uncountable) Water for use in firefighting.
3. (countable, uncountable) High-temperature hydraulic condensate discharged from industrial boilers.
4. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Synonym of alkahest.

Synonyms

liquor

spirits

fine

booze

spirit

hard liquor

brandy

Translations

Branntwein

brandi

aigua de foc

Feuerwasser

eau de vie

acquavite

brandy

aqua vitae

brandy

aguardiente

مشروب كحولي

brandy

Etymology

A calque of a Native American language term, probably Ojibwe ishkodewaaboo (“alcohol”), from ishkodew- (“fire”) + -aaboo (“liquid”, glossed in older works as “water”). A number of other Algonquian, Siouan and Athabaskan languages also refer to whiskey with compounds that mean "fire-water" (on which basis noted Algonquianist Leonard Bloomfield even reconstructed a Proto-Algonquian word for it, *eškwete·wa·po·wi, although this could not have existed). The motivation of the name is not entirely clear: It may refer to the “burning” feeling of ingesting high-proof alcohol. Low-quality spirits also often included ingredients such as pepper, tobacco juice, molasses, etc. Alternatively it may refer to the flammability of alcohol.
Non-alcohol-related senses are simply fire + water.