[Ads-l] bootleg(er), boot-licker, boot liquor,

[Stephen Goranson]

bootleg as not fit for human consumption, rather than a flask of whatnot so
carried
1830

Warren, R.I., Saturday Morning, October 9, 1830.
*Northern Star, and Farmers’ and Mechanic’s Advocate*. 1/2. Newspapers.com
[apostrophes, sic]

Rum better for the feet than the head.–
During the revolutionary war a privateer
was wrecked in a violent snow storm, near
Martha’s Vineyard. A hogshead of run [rum]
was saved and divided among 114 persons,
who composed her crew, ninety eight of
whom drank freely thereof and all perish-
d. The other sixteen wholly refrained
[f]rom the internal use of it, but soaked their
[f]eet and legs in rum by turning it into their
boots, and they all survived the storm.

OED bootlicker

   1. 1846–47

   Sweezer's very intimit with the squire's folks—a kind o' bootlicker tew
   'em.

   F. M. Whitcher, Widow Bedott Papers (1856) xxvii. 331



1850
“Do you think a boy who carries bootleg liquor around with him is nice?”

https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22boot+leg+liquor%22&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1899&num=10

Stephen Goranson

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