Word.ws English Dictionary

mountain dew

mountain dew noun: illegally distilled whiskey.

Noun (1)

mountain dew (uncountable)

  1. (Ireland, Southern US) Illegally distilled whiskey.
    • […] and a big-bellied bottle of old whiskey — for there is nothing like mountain-dew taken internally for resisting the effects of night mists.1837 November, “Leistering Salmon by Torch-Light”, in New Sporting Magazine, volume XIII, number 79, page 310
    • At last, says he, "Pray, sir, did you ivir dhrink any potyeen? any raal mountain-jew?" - "No," says Coo; "what's that, and where does it come from?" - "Oh! that's a sacret," said Jack, "but it's the right stuff; nivir believe me agin if it isn't fifty times better nor brandy or rum either. Biddy's...1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 534
  2. (Trinidad-and-Tobago) Illegally distilled rum.

Noun (2) capitalized: Mountain Dew

Mountain Dew (countable and uncountable, plural Mountain Dews)

  1. A brand of citrus-flavored, carbonated, heavily caffeinated beverage.
    • In 1985 a Mountain Dew commercial started popping up on TV ....2003, Mat Hoffman with Mark Lewman, The Ride of My Life, page 33
    • It has become a signature of the Koffee Kup, as much as the flower boxes filled with geraniums and the classic Mountain Dew sign hanging off the front of the building2004, Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, Cafe Wisconsin: A Guide to Wisconsin's Down-Home Cafes, page 210

Synonyms of mountain dew

All synonyms of mountain dew

Forms of mountain dew

pluralMountain Dews
alternative formMtn Dew

Origin of mountain dew

So called because it was often illicitly distilled in the mountains.

From mountain dew (“illegally distilled whiskey”).

Questions about mountain dew

What does mountain dew mean?
Mountain dew means illegally distilled whiskey.
What part of speech is mountain dew?
Mountain dew is a noun.
What is the plural of mountain dew?
The plural of mountain dew is Mountain Dews.

Words near mountain dew in the dictionary

  1. mountain deer
  2. mountain degu
  3. mountain degus
  4. mountain devil
  5. mountain devils
  6. mountain dew
  7. Mountain Dews
  8. mountain duck
  9. mountain dulcimer
  10. mountain dulcimers
  11. mountain ebony

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mountain dew (page history and authors); Mountain Dew (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “mountain dew.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mountain_dew. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.