firewater

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 and Siouan 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.

• Audio (US):

  (file)

firewater (countable and uncountable, plural firewaters)

1. (informal) High-proof alcohol, especially whiskey (especially in the context of its sale to or consumption by Native Americans).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:alcoholic beverage

   • 1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options‎:

     High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.

   • 2012 November 15, Tom Lamont, “How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world”, in The Guardian‎:

     Four polite Englishmen in their middle 20s, feigning like firewater drunks in a Eugene O'Neill play: it's exactly the stuff that makes their detractors groan.

2. High-temperature hydraulic condensate discharged from industrial boilers.
3. (manufacturing) Water for use in firefighting.
   • 1981, Energy Progress‎, page 205:

     A continuously circulated firewater line supplies a deluge cooling system in each gathering center for fire containment.

   • 2015 March 18, Karen Caffarini, “Cause of line break unknown at BP”, in Post-Tribune‎:

     A break in a firewater line at BP Whiting Refinery caused water with an oil-like sheen to spread outside the refinery's walls along a section of Indianapolis Boulevard Tuesday night.

• water fire