Smugglers

/ˈsmʌɡləz/ noun

Definition

People who illegally transport goods across borders or into places where they are forbidden, hiding them to avoid detection.

Etymology

From the verb 'smuggle,' which entered English in the 1600s from Dutch 'smokkelen,' meaning to carry goods secretly. Possibly related to Low German words meaning to sneak or creep.

Kelly Says

The golden age of smuggling in English history created whole criminal underworld networks—so common that entire coastal communities were smugglers, and it became such a normal crime that people wrote folk songs celebrating famous smugglers.

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