smuggle

American  

[smuhg-uhl] / ˈsmʌg əl /

verb (used with object)

smuggled, smuggling

1. to import or export (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, especially without payment of legal duty.

2. to bring, take, put, etc., surreptitiously.

   She smuggled the gun into the jail inside a cake.

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verb (used without object)

smuggled, smuggling

1. to import, export, or convey goods surreptitiously or in violation of the law.

smuggle British  

/ ˈsmʌɡəl /

verb

1. to import or export (prohibited or dutiable goods) secretly

2. (tr; often foll by into or out of) to bring or take secretly, as against the law or rules

3. to conceal; hide

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Other Word Forms

• antismuggling adjective
• smuggler noun
• smuggling noun
• unsmuggled adjective

Etymology

Origin of smuggle

1680–90; < Low German smuggeln; cognate with German schmuggeln

Example Sentences

The books center on semiautobiographical poets and often smuggle in examples of their—that is, Mr. Lerner’s—work.

From The Wall Street Journal

All that survived intact of the family’s former treasures were the netsuke, which were smuggled out of the family’s mansion by a loyal maid and returned to the family after the war.

From The Wall Street Journal

He smuggled himself into Hong Kong as a penniless 12-year-old escaping famine in communist China.

From The Wall Street Journal

Super Micro got hit hard last week after one of its board members was arrested by federal authorities under charges of helping to smuggle Nvidia chips to China.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Bible that Nollie had smuggled to her she had torn up and passed around, book by book.

From Literature

Related Words

• export
• hide