bootlegger

From bootleg +‎ -er. Originally a nickname given to smugglers in King George III's reign, derived from the smugglers' custom of hiding packages of valuables in the legs of their large sea-boots when dodging the king's coastguardsmen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuːtlɛɡə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US):

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bootlegger (plural bootleggers)

1. Someone who bootlegs.
   2. One who is illegally a producer and/or trader of goods, especially of alcohol.
      • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

        His sermon was a forthright denunciation of sin, an austere declaration of the motto on the wall behind him: he warned his flock against the evils of heady brews, gambling, and strange women. Bootleggers caused enough trouble in the Quarters, but women were worse.

   4. One who breaks intellectual property laws by reproducing protected works without permission.

      Synonym: pirate

   6. A miner who mines illegally.

Borrowed from English bootlegger.

• IPA^(key): /but.lɛ.ɡœʁ/ ~ /but.le.ɡœʁ/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France):

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bootlegger m (plural bootleggers, feminine bootleggeuse)

1. bootlegger

• “bootlegger”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012