Foodlegger

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An illicit foodseller, especially in a jurisdiction where food is subject to rationing.

    "Foodleggers. One sinister development that aggravated the food situation was the rise in wartime Britain of a new kind of criminal: the food racketeer. Like gangsters who terrorized the U.S. under Prohibition, foodleggers have highjacked trucks ..."

Example

More examples

"Foodleggers. One sinister development that aggravated the food situation was the rise in wartime Britain of a new kind of criminal: the food racketeer. Like gangsters who terrorized the U.S. under Prohibition, foodleggers have highjacked trucks ..."

Etymology

Blend of food + bootlegger. Attested since circa 1941.

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