eggs in moonshine
A fanciful notion; an unrealistic or ludicrous concept.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“His plan to win the lottery is just eggs in moonshine.”
“She believes she can learn ten languages in a week, which is eggs in moonshine.”
“The investors rejected the proposal because they considered the entire project to be nothing more than eggs in moonshine.”
“My neighbor thinks he can build a working time machine in his garage, but everyone knows his invention is just eggs in moonshine.”
“The manager told the staff that expecting a double bonus during a financial crisis was pure eggs in moonshine.”
“The politician dismissed the opposition's ambitious economic reform as mere eggs in moonshine, arguing that it lacked any foundation in reality.”
disputed origin
The term is probably derived from a dish recorded in 16th- and 17th-century English cookbooks. The recipe required egg yolks to be lightly poached in sweetened rosewater, an arrangement which presumably suggested the visual quality of the night sky. The phrase shares an association with the culinary sense of moonshine, though the connection remains a matter of culinary history rather than linguistic certainty.
- 01
kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
To seek short-term gain at the sacrifice of long-term profit.
- 02
lay eggs
To produce a string of failures or flops.
- 03
price of eggs
Something that is relevant or important, usually used to emphasize that another, compared thing is irrelevant, unimportant, or non sequitur.
- 04
put all one's eggs in one basket
To rely on a single source (as of income), rather than diversifying.
- 05
teach grandma how to suck eggs
To tell an expert how to do things.
Last updated August 10, 2026