Meanings
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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.
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2
adj
historical US dialect: describing whiskey or another liquor as extremely strong
The saloon's forty-rod whiskey had a fearsome local reputation.
Thesaurus
Etymology
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.