smuggle
[smuhg-uh l]
- to import or export (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, especially without payment of legal duty.
- to bring, take, put, etc., surreptitiously: She smuggled the gun into the jail inside a cake.
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- to import, export, or convey goods surreptitiously or in violation of the law.
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Origin of smuggle
1680–90; < Low German smuggeln; cognate with German schmuggeln
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for smuggle
Contemporary Examples
It was a high-tech attempt to smuggle in drugs and phones from the skies over a maximum-security facility.
Egypt has blocked the tunnels Hamas formerly used to smuggle goods and weapons into Gaza—and to get its operatives out again.
Rep. Steve King raged that this would allow illegals to “smuggle themselves into the military.”
Even a Path to Citizenship for Military Volunteers Is Too Much for House RepublicansBen Jacobs
April 7, 2014
His father was executed in 1942 by a German gendarme after attempting to smuggle a packet of saccharine into the Ghetto.
The Week in Death: Irving Milchberg, the Teenage Gunrunner of the Warsaw GhettoThe Telegraph
March 1, 2014
To smuggle 500 kilograms of Mexican cocaine in frozen fish from Guyana to Italy would require as many as 5,000 fish.
Historical Examples
Could she not smuggle him up-stairs after her father had had his supper and retired to his bedroom?
The Night RidersRidgwell Cullum
"Yes, but I managed to smuggle my pocket contents into these clothes," said Ned.
Boy Scouts Mysterious SignalG. Harvey Ralphson
He'll stay behind and carry out your vacation while we smuggle you away.
SecurityPoul William Anderson
Hillard contrived to smuggle him on the private yacht of a friend.
The Lure of the MaskHarold MacGrath
He smuggles the guns in in the Cigale, I smuggle them out in the Arrow.
KilgormanTalbot Baines Reed
smuggle
- to import or export (prohibited or dutiable goods) secretly
- (tr; often foll by into or out of) to bring or take secretly, as against the law or rules
- (tr foll by away) to conceal; hide
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Word Origin
C17: from Low German smukkelen and Dutch smokkelen, perhaps from Old English smūgen to creep; related to Old Norse smjūga
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for smuggle
v.
"import or export secretly and contrary to law," 1680s, of Low German or Dutch origin (see smuggler). Related: Smuggled; smuggling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper