DCHP-1 Online
firewater [prob. trans. of an Algonk. term; cf. scuttaywabo] 
1 n. See quotes. Also, earlier, fire waters.
See also: scuttaywabo
- 1757 (1965) [Fire water. Term (trans.) used by Indians to describe brandy given them in exchange for furs; good liquor blazed up when poured on a fire, diluted liquor quenched it. Paradise for them is to get drunk. (Montcalm, Journal des campagnes, Aug. 29, 1757. . . .)]
- 1791 [It is very hard for us Indians, who have not the sense of the white people to know when we have had enough of the strong fiery water.]
- 1833 They doubted not, from what they had seen of the effects of fire-water, that it was the very MANITOU (or the DEVIL) and would not touch it.
- 1861 I cannot leave the Settlement without expressing my hearty concurrence in the resolve to which the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company have come viz. that they will not take any more "fire-water" into the Saskatchewan.
- 1927 Some tribes would stand for a smaller quantity of spirits than others, but the sophisticated Blackfeet demanded something that would ignite if you put a match to it--fire-water. It was colored with black tea to look more devilish yet.
- 1962 Some made moccasins and snowshoes, others spruce beer, the original fire-water.
2 n. See quote.
- 1950 When fishing for albacore or tuna, at night, when there is a glow of phosphorescence about the moving fish, the men call it firewater.
- 1757 (1965) [Fire water. Term (trans.) used by Indians to describe brandy given them in exchange for furs; good liquor blazed up when poured on a fire, diluted liquor quenched it. Paradise for them is to get drunk. (Montcalm, Journal des campagnes, Aug. 29, 1757. . . .)]