speakeasy
[speek-ee-zee]
- a saloon or nightclub selling alcoholic beverages illegally, especially during Prohibition.
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Origin of speakeasy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for speakeasies
Contemporary Examples
After falling out of style, they're back and ready to compete with speakeasies from New Orleans to NYC.
But like American speakeasies during prohibition in the USA, these places are oases in a desert of official prudery.
Historical Examples
Maybe the machine covered only the area around the various banks, speakeasies, bars and horse parlors.
The Old Die RichHorace Leonard Gold
speakeasy
- US a place where alcoholic drink was sold illicitly during Prohibition
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Word Origin
C19: from speak + easy (in the sense: gently, quietly)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for speakeasies
speakeasy
n.
"unlicensed saloon," 1889 (in New York "Voice"), from speak + easy; so called from the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police and neighbors. The word gained wide currency in U.S. during Prohibition (1920-1932). In early 19c. Irish and British dialect, a speak softly shop meant "smuggler's den."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper