Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US, prison, slang An improvised alcoholic drink made by fermenting whatever ingredients are available.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a liquor concocted from a mixture of ingredients (such as prunes and raisins and milk and sugar) that can be fermented to produce alcohol; made by prison inmates

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pruno.

Examples

  • There's a homemade wine called pruno, which is very exciting.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2003 2003

  • There's a homemade wine called pruno, which is very exciting.

    CNN Transcript Jun 21, 2003 2003

  • There's no "pruno," the homemade prison wine she often finds.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • Kim Bassinger is so hard core she makes pruno in her snatch.

    WHOA, KIM BASINGER IS HARDCORE 2008

  • The infractions mentioned were not that bad: mutilating a curtain; possessing “pruno” an alcoholic beverage that cons distill from yeast and any fruit or vegetable matter they can get their hands on: potatoes, apples, oranges; and refusing to allow a guard to search him for a club he had hidden under his jacket.

    Without Pity Ann Rule 2003

  • The infractions mentioned were not that bad: mutilating a curtain; possessing “pruno” an alcoholic beverage that cons distill from yeast and any fruit or vegetable matter they can get their hands on: potatoes, apples, oranges; and refusing to allow a guard to search him for a club he had hidden under his jacket.

    Without Pity Ann Rule 2003

  • Guards, especially "good" guards with records of mildness and fair dealing, were given a miserably hard time; and several guards, good and bad, were engaged in bare-knuckle combat by convicts made brave with home-brewed pruno.

    Why Prisoners Riot 1955

  • Really, how much pruno have you drank while in prison amigo?

    unknown title 2009

  • I've seen finer batches of pruno turned out in the state prison system that what you can find in Lodi's wineries.

    unknown title 2009

  • One afternoon everybody (except the sheriffs) were put on alert, because the "south-side" car was planning on making some pruno, and inside the walls of the camp that meant drunken gang members, which led to riots, usually.

    Strange Reaction 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Pruno, or prison wine, is an alcoholic beverage variously made from apples, oranges, fruit cocktail, candy, ketchup, sugar, milk, and possibly other ingredients, including crumbled bread. Bread supposedly provides the yeast for the pruno to ferment. Pruno originated in (and remains largely confined to) prisons and jails, where it can be produced with the limited selection of equipment and ingredients available to inmates. The concoction can be made using only a plastic bag, hot running water, and a towel or sock to conceal the pulp during fermentation. The end result has been colorfully described as a "bile flavored wine-cooler", although flavor is often not the primary objective. --Wikipedia

    February 19, 2016