smuggle

«smuggle» in Mova's school dictionary: To take goods or people secretly and illegally into or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (smuggle, smuggles, smuggled, smuggling)

meaning for a pupil

1) To take goods or people secretly and illegally into or out of a country, avoiding laws or taxes. tree →

2) (informal) To take something secretly into or out of a place where it is not allowed: sneaking sweets into a cinema. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons smugglers in Cornwall and other coasts hid brandy, tea and tobacco to avoid taxes. In news, people-smuggling and drug-smuggling are serious crimes. In everyday jokes, children «smuggle» snacks into class or a pet into the house.

examples

• Smugglers used caves to hide barrels of brandy. tree →
• It is a crime to smuggle animals across borders. tree →
• He smuggled a torch into bed to read his book. tree →
• They tried to smuggle the puppy into the house. tree →
• Customs officers caught a man smuggling fake watches. tree →
• We smuggled a cake into the classroom for the teacher's surprise party. tree →

note

Regular verb; double g. Person: «smuggler»; act: «smuggling». «Smuggle in» and «smuggle out» are common. Don't confuse with «snuggle» (cuddle up).

In the corpora

• Pangolins are among the most smuggled mammals, killed for scales that are only keratin and cure nothing.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «smuggle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.