from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Woman's Christian Temperance Union \Woman's Christian Temperance
Union\
An association of women formed in the United States in 1874,
for the advancement of temperance by organizing preventive,
educational, evangelistic, social, and legal work. It is also
known as the {Women's Christian Temperance Union} and by its
acronym {WCTU} or {W.C.T.U.}. It was one of the political
forces leading to passage of the constitutional amendment,
later repealed, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic
beverages.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]