booze cruisen.
/ˈbuːz ˌkruːz/, U.S. /ˈbuz ˌkruz/ colloquial.
1. Originally U.S. History. During the Prohibition era: a cruise on which passengers were taken just far enough from the shoreline to be outside U.S. jurisdiction, so that they could buy and consume alcohol legally; (also, more generally) a boat trip on which the passengers drink a considerable amount of alcohol, often as part of a dinner-dance or similar event.
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1921 Olympia (Washington) Daily Recorder 18 Apr. 1/7 (headline) Would be Booze Cruise Ends with Drowning and Loss of Boat and Cargo.
1921 Birmingham Age-Herald in Judge 24 Sept. 25 (heading) The Booze Cruise—‘Tell me about your houseboat cruise.’ ‘When we'd gone about 10 miles down the river, we tied up at the bank and one member of the party located a “still”.’.. ‘That's the end of my travelogue.’
1934 I. J. C. Brown I commit to Flames iv. 62 I once observed a summons to Americans to go on what was accurately known as a ‘booze cruise’ - i.e., a sea trip outside the Prohibition area, with all bars and bottles open and no particular destination.
1979 Washington Post 4 Nov. a1 Our little excursion boat is under way on the ‘booze cruise’, a late afternoon ride during the cocktail hour.
1983 Meetings & Conventions (Nexis) July s34 With the advent of prohibition, an entirely new type of voyage appeared. The ‘Booze Cruise’—a three-day, three-night voyage just beyond the three mile limit—was a floating frolic that cost only $50 (bar bill not included).
1993 Maclean's 9 Nov. 46/1 She had been on a student boat cruise or a ‘booze cruise’, and was then taken to a house party, where she drank more liquor.
2000 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 28 Dec. Passengers enjoying a festive booze cruise were taken to hospital yesterday after their boat struck a giant cargo ship.
2. British. A brief excursion (esp. a day trip) by ferry from Britain to France, the aim of which is to bring back cheap or tax-free (or formerly duty-free) alcohol, sometimes for illegal resale.
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1994 Today 28 May 2 (headline) Booze cruise smugglers jailed.
1996 Daily Tel. 7 Nov. 9/1 ‘This was not a pre-Christmas booze cruise,’ he said. ‘If it had been, the coach would have been awash with the stuff.’
2005 T. Storey & C. Turner Unlocking EU Law xiv. 351 The phenomenon of the ‘booze cruise’—whereby UK nationals travel across the English Channel by ferry to France in order to buy large quantities of much cheaper alcohol and cigarettes at huge supermarkets in Calais.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1921