bootleggery

plural bootleggeries

1. countableuncountableThe crime of bootlegging.

   Bootleggery was common where he was from.

   2 more examples

   And you knew also that he had been instrumental in securing a concession from one Rex Sheldon, who was connected with the Republican National Committee, didn't you, with reference to his activities in the bootleggery in New York?

   1924, United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Investigation of the Attorney General, Investigation of the Attorney General, page 2610

   It questioned, "Is Havre getting the reputation of having bootleggery as its principal business?" It was, but the Plaindealer soon lost its county contract and ceased operation. The Havre Bunch probably didn't appreciate the publicity[…]

   2006 June 1, Gary A. Wilson, Honky-Tonk Town: Havre, Montana's Lawless Era, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN

2. countableuncountableA place or area where bootlegging is done.

   The fellow across the road gives up farming and turns his place into a pastoral bootleggery. Picnickers appropriate the lawn and declare for the proletariat. The sheriff comes, argues with them and they depart, leaving the Sunday[…]

   1927, Plain Talk, page 94

   1 more example

   He closed up his bootleggery and moved it to the middle of the block. A literal, simple soul that obeyed to the letter the slogan of the Anti-Saloon League. The passing of the corner saloon in New York has changed the whole face of[…]

   1925, Benjamin De Casseres, Mirrors of New York, page 79

1. informalnot comparableResembling or characteristic of a bootlegger.

   “Dave Segal was quite good looking, in a bootleggery kind of way. To me he looked like a bootlegger.” Golden agreed with that description. “Dave Segal was just like you imagine, like George Raft in the movies. He looked like a gangster, the way he dressed, conducted himself.”

   2013, Mark Cohen, Overweight Sensation: The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman, UPNE, →ISBN, page 27