bootleg

US/ˈbutˌlɛɡ/

bootleg verb: to engage in bootlegging.

Verb

bootleg (third-person singular simple present bootlegs, present participle bootlegging, simple past and past participle bootlegged)

(ambitransitive) To engage in bootlegging.
- Only certain dishes are allowed—-not fish and lobster, reserved to the state restaurants—-and those paladares that break the rules operate like speakeasies in the time of Prohibition, the fish-bootlegging owners keeping a nervous eye out for informers.2010, Theodore Dalrymple, Our Culture, What’s Left of It
1. (US, ambitransitive) To make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor.
  - In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg to make ends meet.
  - In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg whiskey from a still hidden in the backwoods.
2. (ambitransitive) To make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyrighted product.
  - In the 1990s, Grandpa used to bootleg under some sort of Robin-Hood-esque notion.
  - In the 1990s, Grandpa used to bootleg Windows CD-ROMs.
3. (US, ambitransitive) To operate a mine illicitly.
  - In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg to make ends meet.
  - In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg coal from a shaft hidden in the backwoods.

Noun

bootleg (plural bootlegs)

The part of a boot that is above the instep.
- Holonyms: upper < boot
An illegally produced, transported, or sold product.
- He thinks he can cross this border with bootleg and get away with it. I doubt he's right. Maybe years ago, but not nowadays.
Synonyms:

contraband
An unauthorized recording; for example, of a live concert.
- Years ago I heard a fantastic bootleg of that song. It was my favorite rendition.
A remix or mashup that is a combination of two songs but that is not authorized and audited for copyright use; primarily in the electronic music scene.
A play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff, conceals the ball against his hip, and rolls out.

Adjective

bootleg (not comparable)

Illegally produced, transported, or sold.
- Near-synonym: pirated
Synonyms:

pirated
Being an inferior imitation of something, possibly a counterfeit.
- bootleg coffee
Synonyms:

ersatz

bootleg meaning in Urdu, Telugu, Malayalam and Gujarati

bootleg in Malayalam

unlawful, illegal, illicit: ഒളിച്ചു കടത്തിയ, ഒളിപ്പിച്ചു കടത്തിയ, മദ്യം ഒളിച്ചു കടത്തിയ, മദ്യം ഒളിപ്പിച്ചു കടത്തിയ, വ്യാജമായി കടത്തിയ, വ്യാജമദ്യക്കച്ചവടമായ

bootleg in Gujarati

બુટલેગ કરવા માટે

More languagesFewer languages

bootleg in Nepali: बुटलेग गर्न, बुटलेग गर्नाका लागि, बुटलेग गर्नका लागि
bootleg in Indonesian: bajakan

Examples of bootleg in a sentence

Kesh's assistant, Wilma, wants to surprise Kesh with some bootlegged swill from Kadara.
But the notorious British heroin "epidemic" was nothing next to the entirely bootleg U.
Red Mammy, the proprietress, bootlegs a horrendous brew known as "Who Shot John?"

All 21 example sentences with bootleg

Synonyms of bootleg

Forms of bootleg

Verb
third-person singular present	bootlegs
present participle	bootlegging
past participle	bootlegged
past	bootlegged
Noun
plural	bootlegs

Past tense of bootleg: bootlegged

Origin of bootleg

From boot + leg. Originally a nickname given to smugglers in King George III's reign, derived from the smugglers' custom of hiding packages of valuables in their large sea-boots when dodging the king's coastguardsmen.

Words formed from bootleg

Phrases with bootleg

bootleg grounds

Questions about bootleg

What does bootleg mean?: Bootleg means to engage in bootlegging.
What is bootleg in Urdu?: Bootleg in Urdu is بوٹلیگ. See Bootleg meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is bootleg?: Bootleg can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce bootleg?: Bootleg is pronounced /ˈbutˌlɛɡ/ (US).
What is the past tense of bootleg?: The past tense of bootleg is bootlegged.

Words near bootleg in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: bootleg (page history and authors); bootleg (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bootleg (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bootleg (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); bootleg (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bootleg (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bootleg.wav.

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