moonshine

Meaning

Noun

• The light of the moon.
• High-proof alcohol (especially whiskey) that is often, but not always, produced illegally.
• Nonsense.
• A branch of pure mathematics relating the Monster group to an invariant of elliptic functions.
• A spiced dish of eggs and fried onions.
• A month.

Origin

• moon + shine. Illegally distilled liquor is so named because its manufacture may be conducted without artificial light at night-time.