smuggled

smuggled, *bootleg, contraband are comparable in meaning transported in defiance of the law but each has implications and applications not shared with the others. Smuggled applies to what is taken out of or brought into an area (as a nation or district) clandestinely, especially to avoid payment of taxes or dues or to contravene the law

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smuggled diamonds

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the same route that the pirates used in taking their smuggled goods to market— Amer. Guide Series: La.

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In extended use it may stress deftly evasive action or surreptitious procedure

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make use of local knowledge and smuggled information to sow alarm among Communist officials— Economist

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to the ordinary beholder there seem to be so many smuggled assumptions in the literature of social science— R. M. Weaver

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Bootleg denotes a material thing (as liquor) made in or imported into a country or district and offered for sale or distribution in defiance of its prohibition in that country or of legal restrictions (as by rationing or licensing) on its use

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bootleg whiskey

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The term can imply fraud, deceit, and often secretiveness or concealment; thus, bootleg wiring is done by one who is not a legally qualified electrician and who may disregard safety requirements; bootleg prizefights are conducted without legal sanction and often with disregard of the welfare of fighters or patrons

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Congress arbitrarily said, "We know better than unions what is good for employees." . . . Today several thousand employers and several million employees are operating under bootleg agreements in flagrant violation of the statute—/!. E. Stevenson

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Contraband applies to something of which the importation or exportation is declared illegal by law, proclamation, or treaty. Often the term is perfectly interchangeable with smuggled

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waterfront resorts were notorious as smuggling centers . . . contraband cargoes were carried aboard motorboats and dories— Amer. Guide Series: Mich.

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or it may nearly replace bootleg benzedrine . . . has been extremely common as a contraband item for introduction into prisons and correctional institutions— Maurer & Vogel

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but it alone is specifically applied to something of which the exportation to belligerents is expressly prohibited and which, therefore, is liable to seizure

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eventually Great Britain was seizing as contraband almost everything sent to Germany and to the neutral states on Germany's borders— Roehm et al

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