Con"tra*band (?), n. [It.
contrabando; contra + bando ban,
proclamation: cf. F. contrebande. See Ban an
edict.] 1. Illegal or prohibited
traffic.
Persons the most bound in duty to prevent
contraband, and the most interested in the seizures.
Burke.
2. Goods or merchandise the importation
or exportation of which is forbidden.
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.]
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.
Con"tra*band, a. Prohibited or
excluded by law or treaty; forbidden; as, contraband
goods, or trade.
The contraband will always keep pace, in
some measure, with the fair trade.
Burke.
Con"tra*band, v. t.
1. To import illegally, as prohibited goods;
to smuggle. [Obs.] Johnson.
2. To declare prohibited; to
forbid. [Obs.]
The law severly contrabands
Our taking business of men's hands.
Hudibras.
