Contraband \Con"tra*band\, a. Prohibited or excluded by law or treaty; forbidden; as, contraband goods, or trade.

The contraband will always keep pace, in some measure, with the fair trade. --Burke.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Contraband \Con"tra*band\, v. t.

1. To import illegally, as prohibited goods; to smuggle. [Obs.]

--Johnson.

2. To declare prohibited; to forbid. [Obs.]

The law severly contrabands Our taking business of men's hands. --Hudibras.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Contraband \Con"tra*band\, n. [It. contrabando; contra + bando ban, proclamation: cf. F. contrebande. See Ban an edict.]

1. Illegal or prohibited traffic.

Persons the most bound in duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the seizures. --Burke.

2. Goods or merchandise the importation or exportation of which is forbidden.

3. A negro slave, during the Civil War, escaped to, or was brought within, the Union lines. Such slave was considered contraband of war. [U.S.]

Contraband of war, that which, according to international law, cannot be supplied to a hostile belligerent except at the risk of seizure and condemnation by the aggrieved belligerent. --Wharton.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)