DCHP-1 Online

high wine Hist.

• (usually plural) spiritous liquor, specifically a mixture of alcohol and flavored water, widely traded to the Indians by fur traders.

  See also: H.W.  Indian liquor  

  • 1794  (1929)  They carry on Dog Sledges, 5 Kegs High Wines. . . .
  • 1872  (1883)  Whisky, alcohol, high wine, and poison, which . . . mean death to the Indian.
  • 1883  Highwines diluted with water, and then charged with the oil of vitriol to disguise the water, was the only, and continuous drink.
  • 1957  "Mucha high wine," he said, using Alexander Henry's term for it "Firewater."