smuggler's bible
smuggler's bible noun: a book that has had some of its interior removed for the purpose of storing small items.
Noun (1)
smuggler's bible (plural smugglers' bibles)
- A book that has had some of its interior removed for the purpose of storing small items.
- Inside the Bible's cover is pasted a bookseller's label identifying the article: “A Smuggler's Bible. Used by smugglers on both sides of the Atlantic in the early nineteenth century to conceal small objects of value. Actually a mere box, this ‘Bible’ could be used to contain any assortment of goods...1966, Joseph McElroy, A Smuggler's Bible, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., →ISBN, page 327
- As the novel proceeds, various kinds of smuggling and allied dishonesties such as counterfeiting and forging are worked into the text, and by the end Brooke's manuscript is placed in a smuggler's bible on shipboard.1989, Tom LeClair, The Art of Excess: Mastery in Contemporary American Fiction, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 135
- Synonyms:
- hollow book
Noun (2) capitalized: smuggler's Bible
smuggler's Bible (plural smuggler's Bibles)
- Alternative form of smuggler's bible.
Examples of smuggler's bible in a sentence
- Inside the Bible's cover is pasted a bookseller's label identifying the article: “A Smuggler's Bible.1966, Joseph McElroy, A Smuggler's Bible, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., →ISBN, page 327:
- A ‘smuggler's bible’ is a facsimile of the sacred book which contains nothing but can carry anything.1989, Tony Tanner, Scenes of Nature, Signs of Men, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 207:
- I filled him in on Simon and the vacuum press before I explained about my condolence visit the past Friday, and the tabs of Ecstacy in the smuggler's Bible.2004, Irene Marcuse, Under the Manhattan Bridge, MacMillan, →ISBN, page 148:
Synonyms of smuggler's bible
Forms of smuggler's bible
| plural | smugglers' bibles |
|---|---|
| alternative form | smuggler's Bible |
| plural | smuggler's Bibles |
Origin of smuggler's bible
Named after the smuggling practice of hiding contraband inside large hollowed-out books, especially Bibles. See Modern Mechanix for a 1928 example. Apparently it began as a term of art amongst book dealers; see the 1966 citation.
Questions about smuggler's bible
- What does smuggler's bible mean?
- Smuggler's bible means a book that has had some of its interior removed for the purpose of storing small items.
- How do you use smuggler's bible in a sentence?
- Inside the Bible's cover is pasted a bookseller's label identifying the article: “A Smuggler's Bible.
- What part of speech is smuggler's bible?
- Smuggler's bible is a noun.
- What is the plural of smuggler's bible?
- The plural of smuggler's bible is smugglers' bibles.
Words near smuggler's bible in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: smuggler's bible (page history and authors); smuggler's Bible (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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Cite this entry: “smuggler's bible.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smuggler%27s_bible. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.