Definitions

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

  • noun Alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or bootleg liquor.
  • noun Marijuana.
  • noun A dwelling, especially a thatched hut.

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

  • noun slang an illicitly distilled (and usually inferior) alcoholic liquor.
  • noun (Military Slang) A living quarters

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

  • noun North America, informal Alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or illicit whisky.
  • noun military slang, Viet Nam era A thatched hut, CHU, or any simple dwelling.

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

  • noun an illicitly distilled (and usually inferior) alcoholic liquor

Etymologies

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

[Short for hoochinoo, from Hoochinoo, a Tlingit village where illegal liquor was distilled, from Tlingit xutsnuuwú.]

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

[Alteration (perhaps influenced by hut) of Japanese uchi, inside, interior.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviation of Hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from the name of the tribe which produced it, from Tlingit Hutsnuwu ("grizzly bear fort").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Japanese うち (uchi, "house")

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Wheredja snitch the hooch?"

    -Rex Banner in The Simpsons

    April 14, 2009

  • from dictionary.com:

    –noun Military Slang.

    1. a thatched hut of southeast Asia.

    2. any living quarters, as a barracks.

    3. (esp. during the Korean War)

    3a. a prostitute's dwelling.

    3b. any place, as a house, room, or shack, where a serviceman sets up housekeeping with a local woman.

    Also, hootch, hoochie.

    Origin:

    1950–55 prob. < Japn uchi house (by back formation, construing -i as -y2); initial h perh. by assoc. with hut or < Ryukyuan dial. form of uchi with prothetic h-

    October 6, 2010