Dictionary

speakeasy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Deverbal from speak easy (= speak quietly [interj.]); for the history, see Wikipedia at speakeasy § Etymology.

Meanings

1. (historical) An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s.
   • Retuning^([sic]) to Gotham, he came to intimately know Manhattan's speakeasy scene. “At a speakeasy,” Hirschfeld acknowledged, “you had to be known to get in...each place had its own clientele.” Membership cards, really fake IDs, were common. 2020, David Rosen, Prohibition New York City, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 39:
   • Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days. 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 90:
2. (broadly, historical) An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s. ▸ In modern times, a legal bar in the style of a speakeasy, i.e. one that is hidden away and has a quiet atmosphere.

Forms

Deriveds

speakeasylike · smokeasy

Synonyms

blind pig · blind tiger · blind tiger · blind pig

Translations (8)

es bar ilícito (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · sv lönnkrog (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · cmn 美國非法地下酒吧 /美国非法地下酒吧 (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · da smugkro (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · es taberna clandestina (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · bg контрабандна кръчма (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · fi salakapakka (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period) · ja スピークイージー (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period)