Adjacent Words

Contraband definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONTRABAND, a. [See Ban.] Prohibited. Contraband goods are such as are prohibited to be imported or exported, either by the laws of a particular kingdom or state, or by the law of nations, or by special treaties. In time of war, arms and munitions of war are not permitted by one belligerent, to be transported to the other, but are held to be contraband and liable to capture and condemnation.
CONTRABAND, n.
1. Prohibition of trading in goods, contrary to the laws of a state or of nations.
2. Illegal traffick.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: distributed or sold illicitly; "the black economy pays no taxes" [syn: bootleg, black, black-market, contraband, smuggled] n
1: goods whose importation or exportation or possession is prohibited by law

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Italian contrabbando, from Medieval Latin contrabannum, from contra- + bannus, bannum decree, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German bannan to command — more at ban Date: circa 1529 1. illegal or prohibited traffic in goods ; smuggling 2. goods or merchandise whose importation, exportation, or possession is forbidden; also smuggled goods 3. a slave who during the American Civil War escaped to or was brought within the Union lines • contraband adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 goods that have been smuggled, or imported or exported illegally. 2 prohibited trade; smuggling. 3 (in full contraband of war) goods forbidden to be supplied by neutrals to belligerents. --adj. 1 forbidden to be imported or exported (at all or without payment of duty). 2 concerning traffic in contraband (contraband trade). Derivatives: contrabandist n. Etymology: Sp. contrabanda f. It. (as CONTRA-, bando proclamation)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contraband Con"tra*band, a. Prohibited or excluded by law or treaty; forbidden; as, contraband goods, or trade. The contraband will always keep pace, in some measure, with the fair trade. --Burke.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contraband Con"tra*band, v. t. 1. To import illegally, as prohibited goods; to smuggle. [Obs.] --Johnson. 2. To declare prohibited; to forbid. [Obs.] The law severly contrabands Our taking business of men's hands. --Hudibras.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contraband Con"tra*band, n. [It. contrabando; contra + bando ban, proclamation: cf. F. contrebande. See Ban an edict.] 1. Illegal or prohibited traffic. Persons the most bound in duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the seizures. --Burke. 2. Goods or merchandise the importation or exportation of which is forbidden. 3. A negro slave, during the Civil War, escaped to, or was brought within, the Union lines. Such slave was considered contraband of war. [U.S.] Contraband of war, that which, according to international law, cannot be supplied to a hostile belligerent except at the risk of seizure and condemnation by the aggrieved belligerent. --Wharton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Contraband refers to goods that are taken into or out of a country illegally. Most of the city markets were flooded with contraband goods. N-UNCOUNT: oft N n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. Prohibited, illegal, unlawful, illicit. II. n. 1. Illegal traffic. 2. Prohibited articles.

Moby Thesaurus

Eighteenth Amendment, Prohibition Party, Volstead Act, actionable, against the law, anarchic, anarchistic, anomic, ban, banned, barred, black-market, bootleg, bootleg liquor, chargeable, cigarette smuggling, cigarettes, contrabandage, contrary to law, criminal, denial, disallowance, disapproved, dope, dope smuggling, drugs, embargo, excluded, exclusion, felonious, flawed, forbade, forbid, forbiddance, forbidden, forbidden fruit, forbidding, gunrunning, hot, hot goods, illegal, illegitimate, illicit, impermissible, index, index expurgatorius, index librorum prohibitorum, inhibition, injunction, interdict, interdiction, interdictum, irregular, jewel smuggling, jewels, justiciable, law, lawless, narcotics, narcotics smuggling, no-no, nonconstitutional, nonlegal, nonlicit, nonpermissible, not permitted, off limits, out of bounds, outlaw, outlawed, preclusion, prevention, prohibited, prohibition, prohibitory injunction, proscribed, proscription, punishable, refusal, rejection, repression, restrictive covenants, ruled out, ruling out, rumrunning, run, shut out, smuggled goods, smuggling, statute, stolen goods, sumptuary laws, suppression, taboo, tabooed, triable, unallowed, unauthorized, unconstitutional, under the ban, under-the-counter, under-the-table, unlawful, unlicensed, unofficial, unpermissible, unsanctioned, unstatutory, untouchable, unwarrantable, unwarranted, verboten, vetoed, wrongful, zoning, zoning laws