bootleg

[boot-leg]

noun

1. alcoholic liquor unlawfully made, sold, or transported, without registration or payment of taxes.

2. the part of a boot that covers the leg.

3. something, as a recording, made, reproduced, or sold illegally or without authorization.

   a flurry of bootlegs to cash in on the rock star's death.

verb (used with object)

bootlegged, bootlegging 

1. to deal in (liquor or other goods) unlawfully.

verb (used without object)

bootlegged, bootlegging 

1. to make, transport, or sell something, especially liquor, illegally or without registration or payment of taxes.

adjective

1. made, sold, or transported unlawfully.

2. illegal or clandestine.

3. of or relating to bootlegging.

bootleg

/ ˈbuːtˌlɛɡ /

verb

1. to make, carry, or sell (illicit goods, esp alcohol)

noun

1. something made or sold illicitly, such as alcohol during Prohibition in the US

2. an illegally made copy of a CD, tape, etc

adjective

1. produced, distributed, or sold illicitly

   bootleg whisky

   bootleg tapes

Other Word Forms

• bootlegger noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bootleg¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1625–35; boot ¹ + leg; secondary senses arose from practice of hiding a liquor bottle in the leg of one's boot

Word History and Origins

Origin of bootleg¹

C17: see _boot ¹ , _leg ; from the practice of smugglers of carrying bottles of liquor concealed in their boots

Example Sentences

She introduced Gigi to several musicals, from a bootleg version of “Legally Blonde,” to her first live theater experience in “Wicked,” to the cast album of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Playing himself, the filmmaker drives a cab around Tehran engaging with a variety of passengers: a bootleg DVD seller, an injured man and his distraught wife, two elderly women in a rush.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“If I just create bootleg merch, then nobody wins, and I don’t prove my point that this is a very valuable and lucrative space,” she said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

His strengths are his mobility, being able to throw on the run, and finding different arm angles to make the pass when he rolls out of the pocket, the bootlegs.

Read more on BBC

He could throw across his body on a bootleg.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• contraband 
• illicit 
• pirated www.thesaurus.com
• smuggled www.thesaurus.com
• unauthorized