Word.ws English Dictionary

bootleggery

/ˈbuːtˌlɛɡəɹi/

bootleggery noun: the crime of bootlegging.

Noun

bootleggery (countable and uncountable, plural bootleggeries)

  1. The crime of bootlegging.
    • Bootleggery was common where he was from.
    • And you knew also that he had been instrumental in securing a concession from one Rex Sheldon, who was connected with the Republican National Committee, didn't you, with reference to his activities in the bootleggery in New York?1924, United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Investigation of the Attorney General, Investigation of the Attorney General, page 2610
  2. A place or area where bootlegging is done.
    • He closed up his bootleggery and moved it to the middle of the block. A literal, simple soul that obeyed to the letter the slogan of the Anti-Saloon League. The passing of the corner saloon in New York has changed the whole face of[…]1925, Benjamin De Casseres, Mirrors of New York, page 79
    • The fellow across the road gives up farming and turns his place into a pastoral bootleggery. Picnickers appropriate the lawn and declare for the proletariat. The sheriff comes, argues with them and they depart, leaving the Sunday[…]1927, Plain Talk, page 94

Adjective

bootleggery (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Resembling or characteristic of a bootlegger.
    • “Dave Segal was quite good looking, in a bootleggery kind of way. To me he looked like a bootlegger.” Golden agreed with that description. “Dave Segal was just like you imagine, like George Raft in the movies. He looked like a gangster, the way he dressed, conducted himself.”2013, Mark Cohen, Overweight Sensation: The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman, UPNE, →ISBN, page 27

Forms of bootleggery

pluralbootleggeries

Origin of bootleggery

From bootleg + -ery.

From bootlegger + -y.

Questions about bootleggery

What does bootleggery mean?
Bootleggery means the crime of bootlegging.
What part of speech is bootleggery?
Bootleggery can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce bootleggery?
Bootleggery is pronounced /ˈbuːtˌlɛɡəɹi/.
What is the plural of bootleggery?
The plural of bootleggery is bootleggeries.

Words near bootleggery in the dictionary

  1. bootlegger
  2. bootlegger reverse
  3. bootlegger reverses
  4. bootleggeries
  5. bootleggers
  6. bootleggery
  7. bootlegging
  8. bootlegs
  9. bootles
  10. bootless
  11. bootlessly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bootleggery (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.

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