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Traffic vs Contraband - What's the difference?

traffic | contraband |

As nouns the difference between traffic and contraband

is that traffic is pedestrians or vehicles on roads, or the flux or passage thereof while contraband is (uncountable) any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess.

As verbs the difference between traffic and contraband

is that traffic is to pass goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money; to buy or sell goods; to barter; to trade while contraband is (obsolete) to import illegally; to smuggle.

As an adjective contraband is

prohibited from being traded.

traffic

English

(wikipedia traffic)

Alternative forms

* traffick

Noun

(-)
  • Pedestrians or vehicles on roads, or the flux or passage thereof.
    • Traffic is slow at rush hour.
  • Commercial transportation or exchange of goods, or the movement of passengers or people.
  • * 1719 , :
    • I had three large axes, and abundance of hatchets (for we carried the hatchets for traffic with the Indians).
  • * 2007 , John Darwin, After Tamerlane , Penguin 2008, p. 12:
    • It's units of study are regions or oceans, long-distance trades [...], the traffic of cults and beliefs between cultures and continents.
  • Illegal trade or exchange of goods, often drugs.
  • Exchange or flux of information, messages or data, as in a computer or telephone network.
  • Commodities of the market.
  • * John Gay
    • You'll see a draggled damsel / From Billingsgate her fishy traffic bear.

    Derived terms

    * traffic boy * traffic jam

    Verb

    (traffick)
  • To pass goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money; to buy or sell goods; to barter; to trade.
  • To trade meanly or mercenarily; to bargain.
  • To exchange in traffic; to effect by a bargain or for a consideration.

    • References

    *

    contraband

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia contraband) (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess
  • (uncountable) goods which are prohibited from being traded, smuggled goods
  • (countable, US, historical) A black slave during the American Civil War who had escaped to, or been captured by, Union forces.
  • * 1988 , James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , Oxford 2003, p. 497:
    • While some Yanks treated contrabands with a degree of equity or benevolence, the more typical response was indifference, contempt, or cruelty.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • prohibited from being traded
  • * 1940' – ' The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America: Having ... – Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives – Page 2191
    • "[...] when the seizure is made in connection with a violation involving a contraband article covered by section 1 (b) (1) of the said Act; [...]"
  • * 1953' – United States, United States. President, United States. Congress – ' United States Code Congressional and Administrative News – Page 2039
    • "The exclusion of mandatory payment of moieties for seizures of contraband controlled substances is accomplished through Section 17 of the bill, [...]"
  • * 1899' – Albert William Chaster – ' The Powers, Duties and Liabilities of Executive Officers as Between These ... – Stevens and Haynes – Page 55
    • "4. Contraband goods may be seized if found in a river before they are landed or offered for sale."

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To import illegally; to smuggle.
    • (Johnson)
  • (obsolete) To declare prohibited; to forbid.
  • * Hudibras
    • The law severely contrabands / Our taking business off men's hands.