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contraband

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(redirected from contraband of war)

contraband

1. 
a. goods that are prohibited by law from being exported or imported
b. illegally imported or exported goods
2. illegal traffic in such goods; smuggling
3. (during the American Civil War) a Black slave captured by the Union forces or one who escaped to the Union lines
4. of goods
a. forbidden by law from being imported or exported
b. illegally imported or exported
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
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But I can't take you now because you are contraband of war and not American citizens yet.
Contraband, runaways, freemen: new definitions of reconstruction created by the civil war
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