woman's christian temperance union

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

• An association of women formed in the United States in 1874, for the advancement of temperance by organizing preventive, educational, evangelistic, social, and legal work. It is also known as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and by its acronym WCTU or W.C.T.U.. It was one of the political forces leading to passage of the constitutional amendment, later repealed, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages.