smuggle

S1M3U1G2G2L1E1
/ˈsmʌɡəl/

verb

To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties.

Similar
run
OriginEnglish smuckle ← Low German smuggelnbor.? ← Dutch smokkelenbor.? →
UncommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

verbsmuggle (third-person singular simple present smuggles, present participle smuggling, simple past and past participle smuggled)

present singular third person smuggles · participle present smuggling · participle past smuggled · past smuggled · alternative dialectal smuckle

  1. intransitivetransitiveTo import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties.

    A lorry driver who smuggled illegal immigrants into the UK in the back of his trailer has been jailed.

    2018 July 20, “Lorry driver jailed for smuggling illegal immigrants into UK”, in cps.gov.uk, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 20 Jul 2018
    1 more example

    'Smuggling was a way of life here, with no stigma attached,' David explained. His own granny used to smuggle out rabbit meat, tied to her body, and bring back such coveted Italian goods as chocolate, coffee and brooms. 'Brooms?' I asked him in disbelief. 'Yes, ordinary sorghum brooms, which were in short supply in Communist Yugoslavia, like many other basic household goods,' he said with a smile.

    2026 June 24, Vitali Vitaliev, “Life on the borderline”, in RAIL, number 1064, page 68

    Synonyms: run

  2. transitiveTo bring in surreptitiously.
    1 more example

    22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttps://web.archive.org/web/20120324175255/http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/ While Collins does include a love triangle, a coming-of-age story, and other YA-friendly elements in the mix, they serve as a Trojan horse to smuggle readers into a hopeless world where love becomes a stratagem and growing up is a matter of basic survival.

  3. obsoletetransitiveTo fondle or cuddle.
  4. slangTo thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner.

    England finally found some urgency in the closing stages, when O'Reilly held his head in his hands after hitting the woodwork, with Guehi similarly disappointed to see his header smuggled off the line.

    2026 June 23, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Ghana”, in BBC

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties.

Similar
run
Also see
fondle

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)mewk-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*smewg-
  3. Proto-Germanic*smeuganą
  4. Proto-West Germanic*smeugan
  5. Old Dutch*smūgan
  6. Middle Dutch*smugen
  7. Middle Dutch*smuggelen
  8. Dutchsmokkelenbor.?
  9. Low Germansmuggelnbor.?
  10. Englishsmuckle
  11. Englishsmuggle

From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), from Old Dutch *smugan, or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln; all are from Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to creep; slip through or into”). cognates and related terms Cognate with Saterland Frisian smuggelje (“to smuggle”), West Frisian smokkelje (“to smuggle”), German Low German smuggeln, smuckeln (“to move insidiously, smuggle”), German schmuggeln (“to smuggle”), Danish smugle (“to smuggle”), Swedish smuggla (“to smuggle”). Related also to Icelandic smjúga (“to creep, penetrate”), Swedish smyga (“to sneak, slip, crawl, lurk, steal”), German schmiegen (“to nestle, wrap, snuggle”), Old English smēogan, smūgan (“to creep, crawl, move gradually, penetrate”).

More words from Dutch, Middle Dutch, Old Dutch

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans smokkel
  • smokkelto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Arabic هَرَّبَ
  • هَرَّبَ (harraba)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Basque kontrabando egin
  • kontrabando eginto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Bulgarian контрабандирам, внасям тайно
  • контрабандирам (kontrabandiram)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • внасям тайно (vnasjam tajno)to bring in surreptitiously
Catalan fer el contraban
  • fer el contrabanto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Chinese Cantonese 走私
  • 走私 (zau² si¹)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Chinese Mandarin 走私, 私運 /私运
  • 走私 (zǒusī)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • 私運 /私运 (sīyùn)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Czech pašovat
  • pašovatto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Finnish salakuljettaa
  • salakuljettaato import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
French passer en contrebande, contrebander
  • passer en contrebandeto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • contrebanderto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
German schmuggeln, schmuggeln
  • schmuggelnto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • schmuggelnto bring in surreptitiously
Hebrew הבריח
  • הבריחto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Hindi तस्करी करना, तस्करी
  • तस्करी करना (taskarī karnā)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • तस्करी (taskarī)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Hungarian csempészik, csempész
  • csempészikto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • csempészto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • csempészikto bring in surreptitiously
  • csempészto bring in surreptitiously
Italian contrabbandare
  • contrabbandareto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Japanese 密輸する
  • 密輸する (mitsuyu suru)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Korean 밀수하다
  • 밀수하다 (milsuhada)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Māori kuhu tāhae, kawe toropuku
  • kuhu tāhaeto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • kawe toropukuto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • kawe tāhaeto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • kawe toropukuto bring in surreptitiously
Norwegian Bokmål smugle
  • smugleto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Polish przemycać, przemycić
  • przemycaćto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • przemycićto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Portuguese contrabandear
  • contrabandearto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Romanian contrabanda
  • contrabandato import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Russian провози́ть контраба́ндой
  • провози́ть контраба́ндой (provozítʹ kontrabándoj)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Slovak pašovať
  • pašovaťto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Spanish contrabandear, pasar de contrabando
  • contrabandearto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • pasar de contrabandoto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Swedish smuggla
  • smugglato import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Ukrainian робити контрабанду, провозити контрабандою
  • робити контрабанду (robyty kontrabandu)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
  • провозити контрабандою (provozyty kontrabandoju)to import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
Vietnamese buôn lậu
  • buôn lậuto import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with smuggle

strugglesnugglejugglemugglepuggle
All rhymes →

Anagrams

muggles
Cite this entry
APA

smuggle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smuggle

MLA

“smuggle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smuggle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “smuggle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smuggle.

Source: smuggle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.