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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
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
The home-brewing methods, which have earned some Delta-8 a reputation as the bathtub gin of the cannabis world, can introduce toxins such as lead, according to Guido Verbeck, a professor at the University of North Texas who co-authored a study on methods of creating Delta-8.
—chicagotribune.com, 4 June 2021
Its adaptability was a boon: Even the coarsest bathtub gin could be made palatable with the addition of vermouth and olive brine (a dirty martini), a pickled onion (Gibson), lemon (twist), lime cordial (gimlet) or extra vermouth (wet).
—Amanda Foreman, WSJ, 18 Dec. 2020
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
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bathtub gin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1923, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near bathtub gin
Cite this Entry
“Bathtub gin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bathtub%20gin. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
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