juice
- 1The liquid that comes from fruit, vegetables, or other plants, often squeezed out and drunk.
She drank a glass of orange juice with breakfast.
Squeeze the juice of two lemons over the fish just before you serve it.
UsageUse some juice or a glass of juice. Put the fruit name first (orange juice) or use of (the juice of two lemons).
- 2
- 3The liquid that seeps or drains out of something wet or damp, such as garbage, compost, or a soaked rag.
The compost bin leaked a dark juice across the garage floor.
Line the bin with newspaper so the compost juice does not stain the bottom.
UsagePut the source before juice: garbage juice, compost juice.
Note
Slang for whatever liquid seeps out of something wet: a garbage bag, a compost bin, a wrung-out rag. It belongs to the group of senses where juice means any liquid that merely resembles the real thing.
- 4Vitality; the energy and strength that drives a person's effort or activity.
The team played with real juice in the final quarter.
He brought so much juice to the rehearsal that everyone perked up.
UsageUse have juice to talk about available energy: had no juice left, has the juice to do it.
Similarenergy, vitality, vigor, pep, zip
Note
Energy pictured as a fluid that a body can lose and recover is an old image. The jockey Samuel Chifney's racing book Genius Genuine, from around 1800, writes of a mare recovering her juices, or strength, a passage horse-breeding writers were still repeating nearly a century later.
- 5
- 6Electrical power; the electricity that energizes a device, line, or system.
Once the generator kicked in, the house had juice again.
Electricians cut the juice before opening up the panel.
UsageCommon in casual talk about whether power is on: no juice, cut the juice. Engineering prose says power.
Similarpower, electricity, current
Note
Here juice is slang for whatever makes a machine go, the same idea of a vital source behind vitality and strength. Berton Braley's poem "The Power Plant" hails the mighty "Juice" flowing through the wires, and The Electrical Experimenter of 1917 calls something a waste of "juice". Both still fence the word in quotation marks.
- 7A bodily secretion, especially one produced by the glands of the stomach and intestines.
The stomach lining secretes a juice rich in acid and enzymes.
Pancreatic juices empty into the small intestine to aid digestion.
UsageOften plural or named for the organ: digestive juices, gastric juice.
Note
Physiology keeps this use fully respectable. Juice is the standard term for digestive secretions, named for the organ that makes them: gastric juice from the stomach, pancreatic and intestinal juices further along. These secretions carry acids and enzymes that break food down.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Gastric juice is a digestive secretion produced by glands in the stomach. openstax.org
- Pancreatic and intestinal juices act further along the digestive tract, in the small intestine. openstax.org
- Digestive secretions contain acid and enzymes that help break down food. niddk.nih.gov
- 8The natural lubricating fluid secreted by the vagina during sexual arousal.
Her juice flowed as the foreplay continued.
He could feel her juice against his hand.
UsageUsually with a possessive: her juice or her juices. Polite or clinical writing says natural lubrication.
Less common meanings
- 9Anything that is a source of significant positive effects or makes them possible.
Word of mouth, not advertising, was the real juice behind the café's success.
The writers knew the love triangle still had juice, so they stretched it into another season.
UsageOften still has juice: the story still had juice. It fits conversation better than formal reports.
Note
Keep it apart from the "vitality" meaning. Vitality is strength something has in itself; this juice is whatever supplies the good results.
- 10Anabolic steroids, used to enhance muscle growth or athletic performance.
Half the lineup was rumored to be on juice that season.
He insists he built his physique without ever touching juice.
UsageUsed in on juice or on the juice: he admitted being on juice.
Note
It is also the noun behind the verb for doping, so a lifter on juice is said to be juicing. Its whole point is the contrast between a physique built chemically and one built by training naturally.
- 11To take performance-enhancing drugs, especially steroids, to boost athletic ability.
Several lifters in the gym openly juice during the off-season.
Investigators suspected the sprinter had juiced for years.
UsageAlso used as juice up: they were juicing or they were juicing up.
Similardope
Note
Phil Denapoli's Preying on the Innocent (2012) says any fool could see they were juicing. Because the word implies cheating, it is a word of accusation, quite unlike the transitive "energize" verb.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Phil Denapoli wrote Preying on the Innocent. everand.com
- Preying on the Innocent was first published in 2012. everand.com
- The book contains the words “any fool could see they were juicing.” en.wiktionary.org
- 12Influence or clout, especially the kind of political power that lets someone get things done.
She used her juice on the committee to push the bill forward.
A senator with that much juice can block almost any nomination.
UsageMost often with have: has a lot of juice, who's got the juice. Formal writing says influence or clout.
Similarclout, influence, pull, sway, leverage
Note
Power pictured as something a person holds and can spend. The usual frame is possession, as in who's got the juice, which is how CNBC's Matthews put it on Hardball in 1998 when he weighed the governors against the Gingrich crowd on Capitol Hill.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Matthews used “who's got the juice” in 1998. en.wiktionary.org
- Hardball was presented by Chris Matthews and broadcast on CNBC in 1998. en.wikipedia.org
- Matthews contrasted the governors' political power with that of Gingrich's congressional group. en.wiktionary.org
- 13Gasoline; fuel for a vehicle's engine.
The motorcycle was nearly out of juice, and the next gas station was forty miles away.
This old engine burns a lot of juice on the highway.
UsageStock phrases: running out of juice, low on juice.
Similargas, fuel, gasoline, petrol
Note
Fuel slang that fits petrol as readily as gas. In Stephen Barlay's Double Cross (1973), someone drives to a petrol station and waits without buying juice. The stock phrase is running out of juice, which William J. Holstein's Why GM Matters (2009) sets beside the electric EV-1, so it overlaps with the electricity sense. Dino juice is the jokier name for gasoline and other petroleum fuels.
- 14Vulgar slang for semen, the fluid emitted from the penis at ejaculation.
He pulled out and spilled his juice across the sheets.
She checked the condom afterward and found it full of his juice.
Similarsemen
Note
The same word names the fruit liquid and the breakfast drink, so this meaning works only when the sentence is plainly about sex. In other settings, a listener may hear the everyday meaning instead.
- 15Hard liquor; strong distilled spirits such as whiskey or rum.
Back when he was hitting the juice every night, he lost two jobs in one year.
After a few rounds of juice, the whole table got loud.
UsageCommon in hit the juice and off the juice. For a general audience, liquor or spirits is clearer.
Note
Slang that borrows an innocent word for something stronger. Because the everyday meaning is harmless, the slang depends on its setting, such as a bar or a late night, to be heard correctly.
- 16A sweet, non-alcoholic beverage, carbonated or still, of the sort otherwise called a soft drink.
The corner store stocks every kind of juice, from cola to lemonade.
He shook the can of juice before opening it, and the root beer sprayed everywhere.
UsageOften fizzy juice for a carbonated drink: a bottle of fizzy juice.
Note
In Scotland the word stretches to cover any soft drink, whether or not fruit was involved, so cola and lemonade both count as juice. A visitor who asks for juice in a Scottish shop may be handed something carbonated.
- 17The fee a bookmaker charges for handling a bet, taken as a margin built into the odds.
- 18A sense of close musical agreement and rapport among the instrumentalists in a group.
The Nashville Teens convened in 1962 when Ramon "Ray" Phillips and Arthur Sharp, members of two local rival groups, decided to join their musical juices.
1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders - 19To have sexual intercourse with someone.
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Origin
From Middle English "jus," borrowed from Old French "jus," which came from Latin "jūs" meaning "broth, soup, sauce," ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to mix." The "soft drink" sense is most likely a shortening of "fizzy juice," a common term in Scotland.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- English "juice" descends from Middle English "jus", borrowed from Old French "jus", from Latin "jūs", meaning broth, soup or sauce. en.wiktionary.org
- The word ultimately derives from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to mix. en.wiktionary.org
- The soft-drink sense probably shortens "fizzy juice", a common Scottish term. en.wiktionary.org