forty-rod

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical US dialect: cheap, very strong whiskey

   Pap traded his new coat for a jug of forty-rod and returned drunk before dawn.

2. 2
   adj

   historical US dialect: describing whiskey or another liquor as extremely strong

   The saloon's forty-rod whiskey had a fearsome local reputation.

From forty and rod, the rod being a measure of 16.5 feet. The humorous American name referred to whiskey allegedly powerful enough to kill or knock someone down at a distance of forty rods.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary