English edit

Etymology edit

Blend of butt +‎ bootlegging

Noun edit

buttlegging (uncountable)

  1. (informal) The smuggling of cigarettes.
    • 1977, Time, volume 110, numbers 19-26, page 84:
      Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy, who conducted Senate buttlegging hearings last month, says that the Mob's infiltration has led to "increasing violent crime: extortion and bribery, truck hijackings, armed robberies, serious assaults []