"speakeasy" meaning in English

See speakeasy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: speakeasies [plural], speakeasys [plural]
Etymology: Deverbal from speak easy (= speak quietly [interj.]); for the history, see Wikipedia at speakeasy § Etymology. Etymology templates: {{m|en|speak#Verb}} speak, {{m|en|easy#Adverb}} easy Head templates: {{en-noun|+|speakeasys}} speakeasy (plural speakeasies or speakeasys)
  1. (historical) An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s. Tags: historical Categories (topical): Bars Synonyms: blind pig, blind tiger Derived forms: smokeasy Translations (illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period): контрабандна кръчма (kontrabandna krǎčma) (Bulgarian), 美國非法地下酒吧 (Chinese Mandarin), 美国非法地下酒吧 (Měiguó fēifǎ dìxià jiǔbā) (Chinese Mandarin), smugkro [common-gender] (Danish), salakapakka (Finnish), スピークイージー (supīkuījī) (Japanese), lönnkrog (Swedish)

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for speakeasy meaning in English (3.8kB)

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "speak#Verb"
      },
      "expansion": "speak",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "easy#Adverb"
      },
      "expansion": "easy",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deverbal from speak easy (= speak quietly [interj.]); for the history, see Wikipedia at speakeasy § Etymology.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "speakeasies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "speakeasys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+",
        "2": "speakeasys"
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      "expansion": "speakeasy (plural speakeasies or speakeasys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English deverbals",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "parents": [
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          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bars",
          "orig": "en:Bars",
          "parents": [
            "Businesses",
            "Drinking",
            "Business",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "Human",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "smokeasy"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 90",
          "text": "Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, David Rosen, Prohibition New York City, Arcadia Publishing, page 39",
          "text": "Retuning 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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s."
      ],
      "id": "en-speakeasy-en-noun-N~EoXCZO",
      "links": [
        [
          "illegal",
          "illegal"
        ],
        [
          "saloon",
          "saloon"
        ],
        [
          "tavern",
          "tavern"
        ],
        [
          "Prohibition",
          "Prohibition"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "blind pig"
        },
        {
          "word": "blind tiger"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "kontrabandna krǎčma",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "word": "контрабандна кръчма"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "word": "美國非法地下酒吧"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "Měiguó fēifǎ dìxià jiǔbā",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "word": "美国非法地下酒吧"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "smugkro"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "word": "salakapakka"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "supīkuījī",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "word": "スピークイージー"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
          "word": "lönnkrog"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "speakeasy"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "smokeasy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "speak#Verb"
      },
      "expansion": "speak",
      "name": "m"
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "easy#Adverb"
      },
      "expansion": "easy",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deverbal from speak easy (= speak quietly [interj.]); for the history, see Wikipedia at speakeasy § Etymology.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "speakeasies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "speakeasys",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+",
        "2": "speakeasys"
      },
      "expansion": "speakeasy (plural speakeasies or speakeasys)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English deverbals",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English links with manual fragments",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Bars"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 90",
          "text": "Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, David Rosen, Prohibition New York City, Arcadia Publishing, page 39",
          "text": "Retuning 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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "illegal",
          "illegal"
        ],
        [
          "saloon",
          "saloon"
        ],
        [
          "tavern",
          "tavern"
        ],
        [
          "Prohibition",
          "Prohibition"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical) An illegal saloon or tavern, especially one operated during the American Prohibition period in the 1920s."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "blind pig"
        },
        {
          "word": "blind tiger"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "kontrabandna krǎčma",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "word": "контрабандна кръчма"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "word": "美國非法地下酒吧"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "Měiguó fēifǎ dìxià jiǔbā",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "word": "美国非法地下酒吧"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "smugkro"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "word": "salakapakka"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "supīkuījī",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "word": "スピークイージー"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "illegal saloon operated during the Prohibition period",
      "word": "lönnkrog"
    }
  ],
  "word": "speakeasy"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.