1
: the upper part of a boot
2
3
: a football play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff, hides the ball against his hip, and rolls out compare draw entry 2 sense 8
bootleg
adjective
bootlegged; bootlegging; bootlegs
1
a
: to carry (alcoholic liquor) on one's person illegally
b
: to manufacture, sell, or transport for sale (alcoholic liquor) illegally
2
a
: to produce, reproduce, or distribute illicitly or without authorization
b
: smuggle
Examples of bootleg in a Sentence
Noun
She was arrested for selling bootlegs online.
getting caught with bootleg during Prohibition could have resulted in a jail sentence
Verb
He bootlegged the show and gave copies to several friends.
Recent Examples on the Web
Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024
Nowadays, those bootleg items from the ’80s and ’90s can fetch hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on the resell market because of their rarity.
—James L. Edwards Iii, The Athletic, 21 Aug. 2024
Jourdan Rodrigue, The Athletic, 27 Aug. 2024
This was the era of Prohibition, dominated by bootlegging gangsters—Chicago alone was said to be home to 1,300 gangs—and some police departments adopted increasingly brutal tactics to wring the truth out of suspects: beating and burning detainees with cigarettes, or depriving them of sleep.
—Susan Saulny, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2024
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Noun
However, some grainy bootleg copies survived, and in 1981 serious repair work began in a bid to restore Murnau’s vision.
—Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024
Nowadays, those bootleg items from the ’80s and ’90s can fetch hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on the resell market because of their rarity.
—James L. Edwards Iii, The Athletic, 21 Aug. 2024
Verb
The quarterback can bootleg in and out of the perimeter of cameras, as the testing aims to simulate as many football movements as possible.
—Jourdan Rodrigue, The Athletic, 27 Aug. 2024
This was the era of Prohibition, dominated by bootlegging gangsters—Chicago alone was said to be home to 1,300 gangs—and some police departments adopted increasingly brutal tactics to wring the truth out of suspects: beating and burning detainees with cigarettes, or depriving them of sleep.
—Susan Saulny, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bootleg
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Cite this Entry
“Bootleg.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bootleg. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bootleg
1 of 2 verb
boot·leg
-ˌleg 
bootlegged; bootlegging
1
: to make, transport, or sell alcoholic liquor illegally
2
a
: to produce or sell illegally or without permission
bootlegged recordings
b
bootlegger
noun
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