ethyl alcohol

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

• noun (Chem.) the organic compound C2H5.OH, which is the intoxicating agent in beer, wine, and other fermented and distilled liquors; it is used pure or denatured as a solvent or in medicines and colognes and cleaning solutions and rocket fuel.

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

• noun organic chemistry An older name for ethanol, a type of alcohol.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors; used pure or denatured as a solvent or in medicines and colognes and cleaning solutions and rocket fuel; proposed as a renewable clean-burning additive to gasoline
• noun nonflavored alcohol of 95 percent or 190 proof used for blending with straight whiskies and in making gin and liqueurs