bootleg

What it means

1. ambitransitiveTo engage in bootlegging.

   Only certain dishes are allowed—-not fish and lobster, reserved to the state restaurants—-and those paladares that break the rules operate like speakeasies in the time of Prohibition, the fish-bootlegging owners keeping a nervous eye out for informers.

   2010, Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It

   1. USambitransitiveTo make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor.

      In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg to make ends meet.

      1 more example

      In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg whiskey from a still hidden in the backwoods.

   2. ambitransitiveTo make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyrighted product.

      In the 1990s, Grandpa used to bootleg Windows CD-ROMs.

      1 more example

      In the 1990s, Grandpa used to bootleg under some sort of Robin-Hood-esque notion.

In a sentence

Only certain dishes are allowed—-not fish and lobster, reserved to the state restaurants—-and those paladares that break the rules operate like speakeasies in the time of Prohibition, the fish-bootlegging owners keeping a nervous eye out for informers.

2010, Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It

Where it comes from

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