means The non-physical essence of a person or thing — variously the soul, the mood or attitude that animates a group, a supernatural being, or a strong distilled alcohol.

from From Latin spiritus, "breath, breathing," from spirare, "to breathe" — the same root that gives us inspire, expire, and respire. The ancients tied life to breath: when you stopped breathing, the spirit left. The word arrived in English through Old French esperit, mostly carried in religious texts. The boozy sense came later from alchemy, where "spirits" were the volatile vapors drawn off by distillation — the breath of the substance, captured.