contraband

plural contrabands

1. uncountableusuallyAny goods which are illicit or illegal to possess.
2. uncountableusuallyGoods which are prohibited from being traded, smuggled goods.
3. UScountablehistoricalusuallyA black slave during the American Civil War who had escaped to, or been captured by, Union forces.

   While some Yanks treated contrabands with a degree of equity or benevolence, the more typical response was indifference, contempt, or cruelty.

   1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 497

comparative more contraband · superlative most contraband

1. Prohibited from being traded.

   4. Contraband goods may be seized if found in a river before they are landed or offered for sale.

   1899, Albert William Chaster, The Powers, Duties and Liabilities of Executive Officers as Between These ... – Stevens and Haynes – Page 55

   2 more examples

   … when the seizure is made in connection with a violation involving a contraband article covered by section 1 (b) (1) of the said Act; …

   1940, The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America: Having ... – Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives – Page 2191

   The exclusion of mandatory payment of moieties for seizures of contraband controlled substances is accomplished through Section 17 of the bill, …

   1953, United States, United States. President, United States. Congress – United States Code Congressional and Administrative News – Page 2039

present singular third person contrabands · participle present contrabanding · participle past contrabanded · past contrabanded

1. obsoleteTo import illegally; to smuggle.

   there are also searched for concealed Slaves, and goods contrabanded

   1615, George Sandys, “The Second Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, page 87

2. obsoleteTo declare prohibited; to forbid.

   The law severely contrabands / Our taking business off men's hands.

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC