Bootleg

How to spell bootleg

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bootleg

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bootleg mean?

1. adjectiveMade, copied, or sold illegally and without authorisation.
2. nounAn illegally made or distributed item, such as an unauthorised recording or smuggled liquor.
3. verbTo make, copy, or sell something illegally and without authorisation.

Bootleg in a sentence

• adjective

  The market stall was selling bootleg copies of the latest film.

• noun

  The album he found was a bootleg, pressed without the label's permission.

• verb

  They tried to bootleg the software and resell it cheaply.

• adjective

  Fans traded a bootleg recording of the concert online.

• noun

  Collectors pay high prices for a rare bootleg of the band's early shows.

• verb

  During Prohibition many people chose to bootleg liquor for quick profit.

Where does bootleg come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a homegrown American compound, joining the everyday words 'boot' and 'leg' to name the tall shaft of a riding boot. In the late 1800s 'bootleg' became slang for the act of smuggling, because illicit sellers of liquor would tuck flat bottles or flasks inside the leg of a tall boot to hide them from view. The term exploded into common use during American Prohibition in the 1920s, when 'bootleg' whisky was made and sold outside the law, and 'bootlegger' became the word for the people who supplied it. From there the meaning widened beyond alcohol to cover anything produced, copied, or sold illegally, especially unauthorised recordings of music and films. The spelling is reassuringly literal once you remember the picture: a boot and a leg written as one word, with no hidden letters to trip you up.

How the word is built

• boot (footwear covering the lower leg)
• leg (the part below the knee); compound originally meaning the upper part of a tall boot, where smugglers concealed flasks