Bootleggery

//ˈbuːtˌlɛɡəɹi// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The crime of bootlegging. countable, uncountable

    "Bootleggery was common where he was from."

  2. 2
    A place or area where bootlegging is done. countable, uncountable

    "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[…]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Resembling or characteristic of a bootlegger. informal, not-comparable

    "“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.”"

Example

More examples

"Bootleggery was common where he was from."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From bootleg + -ery.

Etymology 2

From bootlegger + -y.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.