Buttlegging

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The smuggling of cigarettes. informal, uncountable

    "Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy, who conducted Senate buttlegging hearings last month, says that the Mob's infiltration has led to "increasing violent crime: extortion and bribery, truck hijackings, armed robberies, serious assaults […]"

Example

More examples

"Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy, who conducted Senate buttlegging hearings last month, says that the Mob's infiltration has led to "increasing violent crime: extortion and bribery, truck hijackings, armed robberies, serious assaults […]"

Etymology

Blend of butt + bootlegging.

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