firewater
n. 烈酒
发音
词形变化
释义与例句
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1.
High-proof alcoholic beverage, especially whiskey (especially in the context of its sale to or consumption by Native Americans).
可数 非正式 不可数 -
2.
Water for use in firefighting.
可数 不可数 商务 工程 -
3.
High-temperature hydraulic condensate discharged from industrial boilers.
可数 不可数 -
4.
Synonym of alkahest.
可数 废旧 不可数
词汇关系
词源
A calque of a Native American language term, probably Ojibwe ishkodewaaboo (“alcohol”), from ishkodew- (“fire”) + -aaboo (“liquid”, glossed in older works as “water”). A number of other Algonquian, Siouan and Athabaskan languages also refer to whiskey with compounds that mean "fire-water" (on which basis noted Algonquianist Leonard Bloomfield even reconstructed a Proto-Algonquian word for it, *eškwete·wa·po·wi, although this could not have existed). The motivation of the name is not entirely clear: It may refer to the “burning” feeling of ingesting high-proof alcohol. Low-quality spirits also often included ingredients such as pepper, tobacco juice, molasses, etc. Alternatively it may refer to the flammability of alcohol. Non-alcohol-related senses are simply fire + water.
来源：wiktionary