sagwire

noun

1. (obsolete, uncountable)Synonym of sagueir (palm wine made from Arenga pinnata).

   “One of theſe leaves, or rather branches, is cut off, and the ſagwire trickles out of it by drops, which are caught in a bamboo, hung under it for that purpoſe, and when this is full, the contents are drawn off, by a tap at the bottom.”

   “Their food is rice, fish, and pisang, and their drink water; though they likewise have sagwire, or palm wine.”

   “On the fruit of this tree the natives in a great measure live, and regale themselves with its inebriating juice, as also on sagwire, a very strong species of palm wine.”

   “The Australians, although unacquainted with true spirituous liquors, knew how to obtain a similar effect by chewing the twigs of the pituri bush. The Papuans of New Guinea in their intoxicating sagwire, prepared from the sap of the palm, illustrate the transition to a fluid medium for the same purpose.”

2. (obsolete, uncountable)The palm tree Arenga pinnata.

   “One of the most useful and abundant of all the palms is the Sagwire or Gomuti (Borassus gomutus).”