[ad. Sp. contrabandista: see CONTRABAND and -IST.] One who carries on contraband traffic; a smuggler.
1818. Jackson’s Oxf. Jrnl., 26 Nov., 1/1. We suspect all these frontier articles to be like frontier towns—excellent barriers in time of war, but mere depots for contrabandists in time of peace.
1818. Todd, Contrabandist, he who trafficks illegally.
1828. Landor, Wks. (1853), I. 332/1. Plunderers and contrabandists.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., V. 52. It was proved that one of the contrabandists had provided the vessel.
fig. 1839. Maginn, in Fraser’s Mag. XX. 257. One of the … approved tricks of the plagiary trade … which gives the contrabandist all the credit of the appropriated passage.
