Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various strong distilled alcoholic drinks, as.
  • noun a liquor made in Latin America from sugar cane, often flavored with anise.
  • noun a brandy made in Spain and Portugal from the pomace of grapes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A brandy made in Spain and Portugal, generally from grapes.
  • noun In general, in Spanish countries, any spirituous liquor for drinking.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A inferior brandy of Spain and Portugal.
  • noun Mexico and Spanish America. A strong alcoholic drink, especially pulque.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An inferior brandy made in Spain and Portugal.
  • noun A strong alcoholic drink, especially pulque, found in Central and South America as well as the southwestern United States.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish : agua, water (from Latin aqua; see akw-ā- in Indo-European roots) + ardiente, hot, scalding, blazing (from Old Spanish, from Latin ārdēns, ārdent-, present participle of ārdēre, to burn; see as- in Indo-European roots).]

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Examples

  • Another local libation with anchos and epazote added is nanche, made from the fruit of the loquat tree infused in aguardiente, cane alcohol.

    A Gastronomic Circuit Around the City or When Lost in Mexico, Follow Your Stomach: El Estado de Mexico 2004

  • Another local libation with anchos and epazote added is nanche, made from the fruit of the loquat tree infused in aguardiente, cane alcohol.

    A Gastronomic Circuit Around the City or When Lost in Mexico, Follow Your Stomach: El Estado de Mexico 2004

  • Another local libation with anchos and epazote added is nanche, made from the fruit of the loquat tree infused in aguardiente, cane alcohol.

    A Gastronomic Circuit Around the City or When Lost in Mexico, Follow Your Stomach: El Estado de Mexico 2004

  • There were even black bottles of a raw and fierce brandy called aguardiente, offered by a brawny monk whose scars and tattoos made him look like an old soldier.

    Sharpe's Rifles Cornwell, Bernard 1988

  • They desired not to eat or to drink -- not even of my aguardiente, which is the best.

    Cabbages and Kings 1904

  • The roots are sometimes used as a flavouring for a local alcoholic beverage called 'aguardiente'; they are also used medicinally to increase fertility.

    Chapter 23 1987

  • But the "aguardiente," a native-made rum, is nevertheless always kept on hand, being a government monopoly, and ever ready, so that the Mosas may have no excuse to be sober and escape being fined.

    The Naturalist in Nicaragua Thomas Belt 1855

  • "One hundred millions in pikes, bullets, and intrenching tools; 10,000 ducats in scented gloves, to preserve the troops from the odor of the enemies 'dead left on the battle-field; 100,000 ducats, spent in the repair of the bells completely worn out by every-day announcing fresh victories gained over our enemies; 50,000 ducats in' aguardiente 'for the troops on the eve of battle.

    Familiar Spanish Travels William Dean Howells 1878

  • But while Ms. Roque includes many standard Iberian dishes among her recipes, they almost all bear a distinctive Cuban imprint: no saffron and lots of warm-water seafood in the paella ; mango slices and guava juice added to the sangria; stewed rabbit laced with aguardiente a killer Latin American sugar-cane liquor.

    In Brief: Gastronomy 2011

  • In Acatlán and nearby villages, herb and fruit liquors are made with the cane alcohol called aguardiente, with nanche (loquat) being one of the most popular.

    Culinary travel in the Mixteca Poblana: The avocado route 2009

Comments

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  • "Stephen, however, asked Jack to have the head of a barrel containing Chilean aguardiente taken off for Dr. Jacob, and he called upon all hands... to form in lines and to advance in turn... each man passing Jacob was given a cup from the barrel; then moving on to Stephen he received a very considerable dose of prime coca, with its usual accompaniments."

    —Patrick O'Brian, Blue at the Mizzen, 225

    March 28, 2008

  • "The minibar in the hotel was no help. It was called the Selfbar — so I took it personally and downed the lot: the scotches, the vodkas, the gins and the Amazonian armpit aguardientes."

    Psychogeography by Will Self, 123

    October 16, 2010