speakeasy

plural speakeasies · plural speakeasys

1. historicalAn illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s.

   They found that Bryan and Anna had stopped at a nearby speakeasy, an illegal bar, and stayed there until about 10:00 p.m.

   2021 (originally published 2017, adapted 2021), David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Younger Readers, page 116

   2 more examples

   Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days.

   1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 90

   Retuning^([sic]) to Gotham, he came to intimately know Manhattan's speakeasy scene. “At a speakeasy,” Hirschfeld acknowledged, “you had to be known to get in...each place had its own clientele.” Membership cards, really fake IDs, were common.

   2020, David Rosen, Prohibition New York City, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 39

   Synonyms: blind pig, blind tiger

   1. broadlyhistoricalIn modern times, a legal bar in the style of a speakeasy, i.e. one that is hidden away and has a quiet atmosphere.

      Synonyms: blind pig, blind tiger