Black market
noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Trade that is in violation of restrictions, rationing, or price controls.
"Peace and order will not be tolerated. Start saving your cash for the black market, folks, you're gonna need it."
- 2 an illegal market in which goods or currencies are bought and sold in violation of rationing or controls wordnet
- 3 The people who engage in such trade, or that sector of the economy. collective
"associational black market"
- 4 people who engage in illicit trade wordnet
Verb
- 1 deal in illegally, such as arms or liquor wordnet
Example
More examples"Peace and order will not be tolerated. Start saving your cash for the black market, folks, you're gonna need it."
Etymology
Ca. 1930, probably a calque of German Schwarzmarkt, which is attested from the 1910s. Compare Schwärzer (“smuggler”, 18th c.).