moonshine

[ moon-shahyn ]

/ ˈmunˌʃaɪn /

Informal. smuggled or illicitly distilled liquor, especially corn liquor as illicitly distilled chiefly in rural areas of the southern U.S.

empty or foolish talk, ideas, etc.; nonsense.

the light of the moon; moonlight.

Origin of moonshine

1375–1425; late Middle English: moonlight. See moon, shine¹,

He wrote a few more paperback originals, two of them westerns, then sold The Moonshine War to Doubleday in hardcover.

Elmore Leonard’s Rocky Road to Fame and Fortune |Mike Lupica |September 13, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Gambling, girls; you could buy a pint of moonshine for a dime, store-bought whiskey for a quarter.

Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis |Stanley Booth |June 7, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Daryl, insulted, smashes it to bits and finds her moonshine instead.

The Walking Dead’s Killer Diva Emily Kinney on Daryl and ‘Expired Love’ |Melissa Leon |March 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
I will not even say it is all moonshine, for it is something better.

The Trees of Pride |G.K. Chesterton

But there is the moonshine still, serene, beneficent, and unchanged.

The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume VI, Familiar Letters |Henry David Thoreau
At last the ruined towers of Bellinzona stood gleaming in the moonshine, and we rattled into the great post-yard.

Italian Hours |Henry James
It is a necktie with a picture like whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming in the moonshine.

Rootabaga Stories |Carl Sandburg
The money you think to make may turn out all moonshine, you know.

Johnny Ludlow, Fourth Series |Mrs. Henry Wood

moonshine

/ (ˈmuːnˌʃaɪn) /

another word for moonlight (def. 1)

US and Canadian illegally distilled or smuggled whisky or other spirit

foolish talk or thought