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bootleg

 [boot-leg]   Origin

boot·leg

   [boot-leg] noun, verb, boot·legged, boot·leg·ging, adjective
noun
1.
alcoholic liquor unlawfully made, sold, or transported, without registration or payment of taxes.
2.
the part of a boot that covers the leg.
3.
something, as a recording, made, reproduced, or sold illegally or without authorization: a flurry of bootlegs to cash in on the rock star's death.
verb (used with object)
4.
to deal in (liquor or other goods) unlawfully.

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Bootleg is one of our favorite verbs.
So is absquatulate. Does it mean:
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
to flee; abscond:
LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
verb (used without object)
5.
to make, transport, or sell something, especially liquor, illegally or without registration or payment of taxes.
adjective
6.
made, sold, or transported unlawfully.
7.
illegal or clandestine.
8.
of or pertaining to bootlegging.
Origin:
1625–35, Americanism; boot1 + leg; secondary senses arose from practice of hiding a liquor bottle in the leg of one's boot

Related forms
boot·leg·ger, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To Bootleg
Collins
World English Dictionary
bootleg (ˈbuːtˌlɛɡ)
 
—vb , -legs, -legging, -legged
1.  to make, carry, or sell (illicit goods, esp alcohol)
 
—n
2.  something made or sold illicitly, such as alcohol during Prohibition in the US
3.  an illegally made copy of a CD, tape, etc
 
—adj
4.  produced, distributed, or sold illicitly: bootleg whisky; bootleg tapes
 
[C17: see boot1, leg; from the practice of smugglers of carrying bottles of liquor concealed in their boots]
 
'bootlegger
 
—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bootleg
1889, Amer.Eng. slang, from the trick of concealing something (originally a flask of liquor) down the leg of a high boot.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

bootleg definition


  1. mod.
    unauthorized or illegal [copy or something]; illegally obtained. (See also buttlegging.) : He crossed the state line to buy cigarettes and then returned by a back road with his bootleg smokes.
  2. n.
    to sell unauthorized or illegal copies; to sell contraband. : They arrested the guy for bootlegging current movies on DVDs.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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