hooch¹ also hootch (hūch)
n. Slang

1. Alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or bootleg liquor: "bootleggers smashed on their own hooch" (Christopher Hitchens).
2. Marijuana.

[Short for hoochinoo, from Hoochinoo, a Tlingit village where illegal liquor was distilled, from Tlingit xutsnuuwú.]

hooch² also hootch (hūch)
n. Slang
A dwelling, especially a thatched hut.

[Alteration (perhaps influenced by HUT) of Japanese uchi, inside, interior.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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