arrack

• arak

See arak.

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹæk/, /ˈɛɹ.ɪk/

arrack (countable and uncountable, plural arracks)

1. An alcoholic drink distilled from coconut palm flowers in South Asia.

   Synonym: palm arrack

   • 1777, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 7th edition, London: […] S. Crowder, […]; J. Sewell, […]; W. Johnston, […]; and B. Law, […], →OCLC, page 277:

     From hence we firſt ſailed to Achin, in the iſland of Sumatra, and then to Siam, where we bartered our wares for ſome arrack and opium, the laſt of which bore a great price among the Chineſe: […]

   • 1873 [1855], Samuel White Baker, Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon‎^[1], J. B. Lippincott & Co., pages 272–273:

     […] the cocoa-nut tree yields a pure draught from a dry and barren land; a cup of water to the temperate and thirsty traveler; a cup of cream from the pressed kernel; a cup of refreshing and sparkling toddy to the early riser; a cup of arrack to the hardened spirit-drinker, and a cup of oil, by the light of which I now extol its merits—five separate and distinct liquids from the same tree!

   • 1884, Andrew Carnegie, Round the World‎^[2], New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pages 171–172:

     Ceylon teaches many lessons. The liquor traffic, for instance, is managed throughout the entire island as a governmental monopoly. […] Pure arrack only can be sold at fixed prices, and lessees are held to strict account for drunkenness and disturbances.

   • 1891 August, Rudyard Kipling, “Moti Guj–Mutineer”, in Life’s Handicap: Being Stories of Mine Own People, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., […], published October 1891, →OCLC, page 308:

     Moti Guj was very fond of liquor—arrack for choice, though he would drink palm-tree toddy if nothing better offered.

2. An alcoholic drink made from sugar cane and fermented red rice in Indonesia.

   Synonym: Batavia arrack

   • 2015, Matthew Rowley, Lost Recipes of Prohibition: Notes from a Bootlegger's Manual‎^[3], The Countryman Press, →ISBN:

     Like rum, proper Batavia arrack from Indonesia, also known as arak or rack, is distilled from sugarcane. Unlike rum, it has a healthy dose of red rice added to the mash.

   • 2021, Jiří Jákl, Alcohol in Early Java: Its Social and Cultural Significance, BRILL, →ISBN, page 109:

     Today, arrack is still produced and consumed in parts of Indonesia. It has a particular important position among the Hindus in Bali and Lombok, who use it in ritual and sometimes also in the non-ritual, secular context.

3. Alternative spelling of arak (“aniseed-flavored alcoholic drink consumed primarily in the Middle East”).
   • 1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book fourth, page 257:

     When he walked in and out, looking at the house in connection with the sun, the trees, and the lake, and said, rubbing his hands with might of heartiness, “Well done! Make the dowar now as ye well know, and to-night we will sweeten the bread with arrack, and the milk with honey, and at every fire there shall be a kid. […] ”

• pariah arrack

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