v., -legged, -leg·ging, -legs. v.tr.
- To make, sell, or transport (alcoholic liquor) for sale illegally.
- To produce, distribute, or sell without permission or illegally: a clandestine outfit that bootlegs compact discs and tapes.
- To engage in the bootlegging of alcoholic liquor or another product.
- To attach a transmitter to a dish antenna, creating an uplink via which a signal is sent to a satellite without the knowledge of the satellite's owner.
- Football. To fake a hand-off, conceal the ball on the hip, and roll out in order to pass or especially to rush around the end. Used of a quarterback.
- A product, especially alcoholic liquor, that is illicitly produced, distributed, or sold.
- The part of a boot above the instep.
- Football. A play in which the quarterback bootlegs.
Produced, sold, or transported illegally: bootleg gin; bootleg tapes.
[From a smuggler's practice of carrying liquor in the legs of boots.]
bootlegger boot'leg'ger n.


