tanglefoot

Noun

tanglefoot (uncountable)

1. (US, archaic, colloquial) Low-quality whiskey, especially home-brewed.
   • They never seemed to want anything, even at the sutler's store, though the Lord knows there wasn't much there they could want except tanglefoot and tobacco.1891, Charles King, Starlight Ranch
   • But Dooley's Irish blood was up, five fingers of tanglefoot tingling in each fist and bubbling in his brain.1906, Charles King, Tonio, Son of the Sierras
2. A sticky substance put at the base of trees or other plants to trap insects and prevent them from climbing up.
   • Instruments called "hopperdozers" were invented, which had receptacles filled with hot tar, and were driven over the ground to catch them as flies are caught with tanglefoot paper, and many millions of them were destroyed in this way, but it was about as effectual as fighting a Northwestern...1900, Charles E. Flandrau, The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier
   • The Entomologist has every reason to be thankful that, early last spring, he laid in a supply of arsenate of lead, Black Leaf No. 40, commercial lime-sulphur, tree tanglefoot, tobacco dust, also providing himself with an abundance of air-slaked lime and a spraying outfit suitable for use in a small...1916, Various, Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916