New to cider

Greetings,
I'm new to the list and brand new to brewing. I got a set-up for Christmas and am in the midst of my first batch. While I'm waiting (impatiently), I've been browsing the list and came accross this discussion.
What exactly do you mean by cider in the brewing context? For me, cider was always just good heavy cloudy apple juice, only really available in the fall.
I suspect it means quite a bit more here. I also seem to recall from somewhere that the legal definition of cider is different here in the U.S. than in the U.K. Can someone point me in the right direction to learn about this?
A real newbie question, but hey,...
Thanks,
Tony

Also new to forums! After posting, I started stumbling across some of the answers!
Still looking...
Tony

The cider you see referred to here is hard cider, which is just fermented soft cider or apple juice. Tastes great!

Cider is the family-friendly, non-alcy variety you see in most stores sold by the gallon.
The cider referred to here is the hardcore, fun-time juicy boozy drink you'll learn to love.

Sounds like you may have access to an orchard. Get 5 gal of fresh pressed juice, add some ale or wine yeast, some spices in secondary, and you have hard cider. This will get you a 5% cider, add 3 lb honey and some yeast nutrient with your yeast, and youll get a good 10% cider

Family friendly is good, but so is fun time! As it happens, I do have access to at least one orchard and am lucky enough to be close to several farmers markets, so all the ingredients mentioned wont be a problem.

I'm gonna go broke buying fermenters before it's all over though...
One is not enough.

Tony

You can never have too many fermenters. Ive got 4 right now, theyre all empty at the moment, my local orchard was colsed today due to the ice storm were having, so I could get no juice or honey either one. Real bummer, as Im out of both mead and cider