from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Contraband \Con"tra*band\, n. [It. contrabando; contra + bando
ban, proclamation: cf. F. contrebande. See {Ban} an edict.]
1. Illegal or prohibited traffic.
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Persons the most bound in duty to prevent
contraband, and the most interested in the seizures.
--Burke.
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2. Goods or merchandise the importation or exportation of
which is forbidden.
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3. A negro slave, during the Civil War, escaped to, or was
brought within, the Union lines. Such slave was considered
contraband of war. [U.S.]
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{Contraband of war}, that which, according to international
law, cannot be supplied to a hostile belligerent except at
the risk of seizure and condemnation by the aggrieved
belligerent. --Wharton.
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