speakeasy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of speakeasy
Explanation
During the time of Prohibition, people who wanted an alcoholic drink had to visit a speakeasy, or an illegal bar. In 1920 the United States began a failed experiment in social engineering, referred to today as Prohibition. Good citizens wasted little time in subverting laws banning the sale and consumption of alcohol by frequenting an establishment called the speakeasy — which, according to one slang lexicographer, may have come from a patron's manner of ordering an alcoholic drink without raising suspicion. The word may also be related to "speak softly shop," the nineteenth century Irish term for a smuggler's den.
Vocabulary lists containing speakeasy
Chapter 13, Sections 1–3
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The Mighty Miss Malone
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Night Owls
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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.
"What a place this is!" he gushed, of Invercargill, excitement bursting out of him like he was in some rooftop bar in downtown Tokyo or a speakeasy in the East Village in New York.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
“It was about dedication to cocktail culture, not just speakeasy mechanisms,” Voisey said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
It helps that the gas station and speakeasy share chefs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
I was renting from this guy, kind of a character on the scene, and he would set up these speakeasy acoustic shows above this jeans store on Abbot Kinney called the Stronghold.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025
We became good buddies in a speakeasy where later on I was a waiter; Chicago Red was the funniest dishwasher on this earth.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
