bootlegger

noun

boot·​leg·​ger ˈbüt-ˌle-gər 

-ˌlā-

plural bootleggers

: one who bootlegs something: such as

a

: a person who makes or sells alcoholic liquor illegally

… in sleepy little St-Hilaire, once a Prohibition boom town, from which bootleggers smuggled truckloads of whisky into the U.S. …

—Will Ferguson

Most of us associate the pocket flask with the Roaring Twenties era of the bootlegger and the speakeasy …

—Linda Rosenkrantz

b

: a person who produces, reproduces, or distributes something (such as a recording) illicitly or without authorization

As part of his job, Schoenfeld is charged with ferreting out record bootleggers and protecting the copyright interests of record labels.

—Holly Gleason

… the conversation ran from how the different companies project returns on direct mail to efforts to crack down on software bootleggers.

—Leslie Brokaw

Synonyms

• contrabandist
• courier
• runner
• smuggler

Examples of bootlegger in a Sentence

a bootlegger of counterfeit electronics

Recent Examples on the Web

In this modern fairy tale, McCullers creates the perfect love triangle: Miss Amelia the bootlegger, her ex-convict ex-husband, and the trickster Cousin Lymon. —The Week Us, theweek, 5 Nov. 2024

Spikes in methanol poisonings are common in Iran, where ordinary alcohol can’t be sold or consumed and bootleggers often use industrial methanol to produce homemade alcoholic drinks instead. —Bykai Kupferschmidt, science.org, 31 Oct. 2024

The dynamic echoed commercial theater’s current love affair with missing-the-point adaptations of The Great Gatsby, a Faust story of its own with a bootlegger as the Devil. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 1 Aug. 2024

Among the additions to season two is Simu Liu as the voice of Chang, a charming bootlegger from a powerful family who can been seen above in the first-look clip that is exclusive to THR. —Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

bootleg entry 1 + -er entry 2

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined above