Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To make, sell, or transport (alcoholic liquor) for sale illegally.
  • intransitive verb To produce, distribute, or sell without permission or illegally.
  • intransitive verb To engage in the bootlegging of alcoholic liquor or another product.
  • intransitive verb To attach a transmitter to a dish antenna, creating an uplink via which a signal is sent to a satellite without the knowledge of the satellite's owner.
  • intransitive verb Football To fake a hand-off, conceal the ball on the hip, and roll out in order to pass or especially to rush around the end. Used of a quarterback.
  • noun A product, especially alcoholic liquor, that is illicitly produced, distributed, or sold.
  • noun The part of a boot above the instep.
  • noun Football A play in which the quarterback bootlegs.
  • adjective Produced, sold, or transported illegally.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The part of a boot above the upper; leather cut out for the leg of a boot.
  • noun One of the levers connected with the winding mechanism of a spinning-mule: so named from its shape.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb to sell illicit products such as drugs or alcohol.
  • verb to produce alcohol illegally.
  • adjective distributed or sold illicitly; especially, imported illegally.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive to make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor
  • verb transitive to make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyright product
  • verb intransitive to engage in bootlegging
  • noun The part of a boot that is above the instep
  • noun An illegally produced, transported or sold product; contraband
  • noun American football A play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff, conceals the ball against his hip, and rolls out.
  • adjective illegally produced, transported or sold; pirated

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb sell illicit products such as drugs or alcohol
  • verb produce or distribute illegally
  • noun whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash
  • adjective distributed or sold illicitly
  • noun the part of a boot above the instep

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From a smuggler's practice of carrying liquor in the legs of boots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

from the carrying of bottles of smuggled spirit in the legs of boots

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bootleg.

Examples

  • For the sake of sanity, radio shows and other broadcasts are lumped in with "bootlegs" -- the term bootleg is taken to be anything not released by the band on one of its official record companies.

    DISCOGRAPHY: Genesis, by Scott McMahan 1992

  • No way a bootleg is gong to capture the energy of that show.

    Last Night « PubliCola 2010

  • Since there has never been an official home entertainment release, this rarely-seen work has turned up in bootleg versions.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2009

  • Three cigarette commercials have been circulating in bootleg channels for years.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2009

  • Piracy, as in bootleg sales of CD ` s and DVD ` s.

    If King Kong could only speak … 2005

  • The film is among the most conspicuous titles in bootleg circulation, so Cher fans will have no problems tracking it down.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2004

  • He was sometimes a hard man, something born perhaps of working during the Depression on what are known as bootleg pits - unlicensed coal mines where he often, with a couple of his brothers, would work eight hours with a pick and shovel, then spend eight more hours guarding piles of coal they had mined from desperate and hungry thieves.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2011

  • By the way, I'm happy to announce to those lazy bastards who haven't bought seats, that if they go to the foyer or the shop next to the theater, we are putting out the official bootleg, which is me singing all the Spamalot demos, which will be out for a few weeks before the cast album is available.

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • He finally understood the excitement he had witnessed as a child when the "bootleg" seminars were being held in the family's home.

    Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco : The Fox 2010

  • De Vos was famous around Berkeley for what he labeled his free-wheeling extra-curricular "bootleg" seminars-which he held in the little WWII vintage green bungalow across from Kroeber Hall-as well as in his gracious Berkeley Hills home.

    Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco : The Fox 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Jeremire taught me this word when we talked about movie.

    May 14, 2009

  • bootleg = illegal

    May 14, 2009