- prohibition
- 1387, from O.Fr. prohibition (1237), from L. prohibitionem (nom. prohibitio) "a hindering, forbidding," from prohibitus, pp. of prohibere "hold back," from pro- "away, forth" + habere "to hold" (see habit). Meaning "forced alcohol abstinence" is 1851, Amer.Eng.; in effect in U.S. as law 1920-1933 under the Volstead Act.
"People whose youth did not coincide with the twenties never had our reverence for strong drink. Older men knew liquor before it became the symbol of a sacred cause. Kids who began drinking after 1933 take it as a matter of course. ... Drinking, we proved to ourselves our freedom as individuals and flouted Congress. We conformed to a popular type of dissent -- dissent from a minority. It was the only period during which a fellow could be smug and slopped concurrently." [A.J. Liebling, "Between Meals," 1959]
Prohibit (v.) is first recorded 1432. Prohibitive "having the quality of prohibiting" is recorded from 1602; of prices, rates, etc., "so high as to prevent use," it is from 1886.