bootleg
noun
alcoholic liquor unlawfully made, sold, or transported, without registration or payment of taxes.
bootlegging
-
present participleof bootleg.present participle
A verb form that is used in progressive verb constructions and may also function as a modifier or a gerund.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We have made a lot of experimental moves with the way we’ve released records — bootlegging stuff for free.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
Mr. Rapp, the prosecutor, said that Mr. Bout’s conviction had been a little like that of Al Capone, the Chicago mobster who was eventually jailed for tax evasion — not murder or bootlegging or racketeering.
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
To combat the bootlegging, his team chose to persuade major retailers to buy scrunchies from them rather than seek damages through litigation.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2022
Such ostentatious displays of wealth helped place Olmstead’s bootlegging racket in the crosshairs of the Seattle Prohibition office, which moved all its manpower and resources to take him down as quickly as possible.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2021
Foreign bootlegging of minerals is so thorough that our neighbor the French Congo, without a single diamond mine in its borders, is the world’s fifth-largest exporter of diamonds.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
