bathtub gin

noun

: a homemade spirit concocted from raw alcohol, water, essences, and essential oils

Examples of bathtub gin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
It is known for its refreshing notes of honey and lemon, which balance out the immense spice of bathtub gin. Bianca Salonga, Forbes, 23 Nov. 2024 As alcohol bans lingered, poorer quality substitutes increasingly overwhelmed the black market: bathtub gin, pure grain alcohol and other rotguts. David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 23 July 2023 Bundles questions the veracity of one prevalent anecdote that alleges her great-grandmother saddled white party guests with chitterlings and bathtub gin while her Black guests enjoyed champagne and caviar. Mayukh Sen, Bon Appétit, 14 Oct. 2021 After Prohibition ended, people didn’t continue to buy bathtub gin when legal and safer alcohol was available. Jonathan Turley, WSJ, 23 Sep. 2022 But states also didn’t massively increase the price of newly legal alcohol to make bathtub gin more attractive. Jonathan Turley, WSJ, 23 Sep. 2022 Grosz, Dix, Duchamp, Prohibition, bathtub gin, Gatsby, the League of Nations, the Red Scare. Jeff MacGregor, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2022 The Roaring Twenties weren’t all about flappers and bathtub gin. Vogue, 13 Apr. 2022 Williams sold bathtub gin to a Chicago nightclub and wrote a sports column for The Chicago Whip to make ends meet. Arkansas Online, 31 Jan. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bathtub gin was in 1923

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Cite this Entry

“Bathtub gin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bathtub%20gin. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

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