bootlegger

American  

[boot-leg-er] / ˈbutˌlɛg ər /

noun

1. a person who makes or sells liquor or other goods illegally.

   A bootlegger named George Cassiday secretly supplied members of Congress with liquor during Prohibition.

   The sort of criminals of interest to the piracy commission are large-scale DVD bootleggers, not individual downloaders.

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Etymology

Origin of bootlegger

bootleg ( def. ) + -er ¹

Explanation

A bootlegger is someone who sells illegal goods. Today, bootleggers are most likely to sell pirated movies or music. This word comes from bootleg and, in particular, the trick of hiding a flask inside a boot. Bootleggers smuggle illegal things, and sometimes legal goods too, in order to avoid paying taxes. During Prohibition in the U.S., bootleggers supplied speakeasies with alcohol. There are a number of other, less common words inspired by bootlegger: meatlegger was coined during World War II's meat rationing and booklegger refers to someone who imports banned books.

Example Sentences

In 1934, Carl Kaelin, a failed chicken farmer and former whiskey bootlegger, scraped together $680 and, alongside his wife Margaret, opened an eponymous family restaurant.

From Salon • Sep. 7, 2021

Outlaw and bootlegger Joseph Henry Loveless’ bones were found in an Idaho cave on two separate dates, in 1979 and 1991.

From Fox News • Feb. 14, 2020

A broke socialite gets a newspaper job and goes undercover at a cafe to expose a bootlegger.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2019

In Bruce Springsteen’s “Cadillac Ranch,” Reynolds is inscribed in the automotive pantheon almost as an afterthought, following James Dean and the bootlegger Junior Johnson.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 7, 2018

With the government’s case in trouble, prosecutors eventually called a witness who, they believed, could sway the jury in their favor: the bootlegger and former bureau informant Kelsie Morrison.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann