Word.ws English Dictionary

bitlegging

bitlegging noun: digital piracy.

Noun

bitlegging (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Digital piracy.
    • If people can take your content without compensation, where do the revenues come from? "Bitlegging" can't be ignored: there's no doubt that it can be a significant drag on profits. Luckily, there are some compensating factors.1999, Carl Shapiro, Hal R[onald] Varian, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, Boston, M.A.: Harvard Business School Press, →ISBN, page 92
    • Of course, downloading a ripped-off version of, say, the All Saints' Never Ever is the digital equivalent of bootlegging (bitlegging?). But MP3.com advises a legal alternative: buy the CD then use a "ripper" to create an MP3 file for your own use.1999 March 11, John Graham-Cumming, “Make your PC really sing”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 May 2014

Examples of bitlegging in a sentence

  • There's also been an increase in blegging, bitlegging and splogging (a blend of spam and blog).2006 November 26, Manisha Singh, “Lexicon techs all”, in The Economic Times, Mumbai: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...
  • 'Bitlegging' describes the unlicensed downloading of copyright material, while 'ransomware' denotes programs that illegally encrypt personal files to prevent access.[2007 May 16, Lawrence Wallis, “An increasing fetish for offlish”, in PrintWeek, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2024:

Origin of bitlegging

Blend of bit + bootlegging.

Questions about bitlegging

What does bitlegging mean?
Bitlegging means digital piracy.
How do you use bitlegging in a sentence?
There's also been an increase in blegging, bitlegging and splogging (a blend of spam and blog).
What part of speech is bitlegging?
Bitlegging is a noun.

Words near bitlegging in the dictionary

  1. bitingness
  2. bitings
  3. bitistatin
  4. bitki
  5. bitkis
  6. bitlegging
  7. bitlength
  8. bitlengths
  9. Bitler
  10. Bitlers
  11. bitless

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bitlegging (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “bitlegging.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bitlegging. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.