Native name in the Sandwich Islands of a species of Cordyline yielding an intoxicating liquor; also applied to the liquor itself, and gen. to any intoxicant spirit.
1831. Tyerman & Bennet, Voy. & Trav., II. xxix. 43. Drinking ava, a rank inebriating spirit.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., xviii. 410. The dark-green knotted stem of the Ava, so famous in former days for its powerful intoxicating effects. Ibid., 412. All the ava (as the natives call all ardent spirits) was poured on the ground.
