smuggle

Meaning

1. (intransitive, transitive) To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
2. (transitive) To bring in surreptitiously
3. (obsolete, transitive) To fondle or cuddle.
4. (slang) To thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner.

Synonyms

sneak

run

bootleg

cover up

entrain

hide

pocket

runner

🏃

slip

smuggling

tuck away

take secretly

be covert

illegal goods

bring secretly

owling

conceal

contraband

Translations

contrabbandare

schmuggeln

contrabandear

smokkelen

contrabandear

passer en contrebande

κάνω λαθρεμπόριο

pasar de contrabando

faire de la contrebande

λαθραία

schleusen

kaçakçılık yapmak

contrebande

εισάγω λαθρέως

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsmʌɡəl/

Etymology

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: smuggelje

Cognate with Western Frisian: smokkelje

Cognate with German: schmuggeln

Cognate with Danish: smugle

Cognate with Swedish: smuggla

Cognate with Icelandic: smjúga

Cognate with Swedish: smyga

Cognate with German: schmiegen

Cognate with Old English: smēogan

In summary

From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), from Old Dutch *smugan, or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln; all are from Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to creep; slip through or into”).
cognates and related terms
Cognate with Saterland Frisian smuggelje (“to smuggle”), West Frisian smokkelje (“to smuggle”), German Low German smuggeln, smuckeln (“to move insidiously, smuggle”), German schmuggeln (“to smuggle”), Danish smugle (“to smuggle”), Swedish smuggla (“to smuggle”). Related also to Icelandic smjúga (“to creep, penetrate”), Swedish smyga (“to sneak, slip, crawl, lurk, steal”), German schmiegen (“to nestle, wrap, snuggle”), Old English smēogan, smūgan (“to creep, crawl, move gradually, penetrate”).