contraband. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

contraband

SYLLABICATION:	con·tra·band
PRONUNCIATION:	kntr-bnd
NOUN:	1. Goods prohibited by law or treaty from being imported or exported. 2a. Illegal traffic in contraband; smuggling. b. Smuggled goods. 3. Goods that may be seized and confiscated by a belligerent if shipped to another belligerent by a neutral. 4. An escaped slave during the Civil War who fled to or was taken behind Union lines.
ADJECTIVE:	Prohibited from being imported or exported.
ETYMOLOGY:	Italian contrabbando : contra-, against (from Latin contr-; see contra–) + bando, legal proclamation (from Late Latin bannus, of Germanic origin; see bh-² in Appendix I).
OTHER FORMS:	contra·bandage —NOUN contra·bandist —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.