Phrase guide

Mountain Dew

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A brand of citrus-flavored, carbonated, heavily caffeinated beverage.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Illegally distilled whiskey.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ireland, Southern-US, uncountable

Examples

  • c. 1870s, George Etell Sargent, The Story of a City Arab, Religious Tract Society, page 387. How they were employed was manifest from the strong perfume of tobacco and mountain dew (illicit whisky) which, striking upon me as I entered, almost overpowered my senses, [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Illegally distilled rum.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Trinidad-and-Tobago, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From mountain dew (“illegally distilled whiskey”).

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