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Counterfeit vs Bootleg - What's the difference?

counterfeit | bootleg |

In transitive terms the difference between counterfeit and bootleg

is that counterfeit is to falsely produce what appears to be official or valid; to produce a forged copy of while bootleg is to make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyright product.

counterfeit

English

Adjective

(-)
  • False, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.
  • This counterfeit watch looks like the real thing, but it broke a week after I bought it.
  • Inauthentic.
  • counterfeit sympathy
  • Assuming the appearance of something; deceitful; hypocritical.
  • * Shakespeare
  • an arrant counterfeit rascal

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A non-genuine article; a fake.
  • *c.1597 William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I, Act II, scene 4:
  • Never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit .
  • * Macaulay
  • Some of these counterfeits are fabricated with such exquisite taste and skill, that it is the achievement of criticism to distinguish them from originals.
  • One who counterfeits; a counterfeiter.
  • (obsolete) That which resembles another thing; a likeness; a portrait; a counterpart.
  • * William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
  • Thou drawest a counterfeit / Best in all Athens.
  • * 1590 Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene Book III, canto VIII:
  • Even Nature's self envied the same, / And grudged to see the counterfeit should shame / The thing itself.
  • (obsolete) An impostor; a cheat.
  • * c.1597 William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I, Act V, scene 4
  • I fear thou art another counterfeit ; / And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To falsely produce what appears to be official or valid; to produce a forged copy of.
  • to counterfeit the signature of another, coins, notes, etc.
  • (obsolete) To produce a faithful copy of.
  • *
  • (obsolete) To feign; to mimic.
  • to counterfeit the voice of another person
  • * Oliver Goldsmith, The Village Schoolmaster
  • Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee / At all his jokes, for many a joke had he.
  • Of a turn or river card, to invalidate a player's hand by making a better hand on the board.
  • bootleg

    Verb

    (bootlegg)
  • (chiefly, US, transitive) to make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor
  • to make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyright product
  • to engage in bootlegging
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The part of a boot that is above the instep
  • An illegally produced, transported or sold product; contraband
  • (American football) A play in which the quarterback fakes a handoff, conceals the ball against his hip, and rolls out.
  • Adjective

    (-)
  • illegally produced, transported or sold; pirated
  • See also

    * bathtub gin * moonshine