subs. (American).—1. See quots.
1877. New York Evening Post, 16 June. Nelson County, Kentucky, is the home of the MOONSHINER; that is, the manufacturer of illicit whiskey…. The MOONSHINER regards the revenue officer as a being to be extinguished, and favorable opportunity is the only thing he asks for putting his belief into practice.
1885. The Saturday Review, 7 Nov., p. 615. Old Layce, a MOONSHINER—that is to say, a maker of untaxed whiskey.
1891. Daily Telegraph, 21 March. A desperate and fatal encounter took place early on Saturday morning between a posse of Revenue officers and a party of MOONSHINERS, by which name the illicit distillers of the mountain districts are known.
2. (common).—See quot. and MOON.
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc., s.v. MOONLIGHT WANDERERS; or ‘fly-by-night’ persons, who cheat their landlords and run away by night; when ’tis illegal to detain the goods.
