contra

n. [ It. contrabando; contra + bando ban, proclamation: cf. F. contrebande. See Ban an edict. ] 1. Illegal or prohibited traffic. [ 1913 Webster ]

Persons the most bound in duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the seizures. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Goods or merchandise the importation or exportation of which is forbidden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Prohibited or excluded by law or treaty; forbidden; as, contraband goods, or trade. [ 1913 Webster ]

The contraband will always keep pace, in some measure, with the fair trade. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To import illegally, as prohibited goods; to smuggle. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To declare prohibited; to forbid. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The law severly contrabands
Our taking business of men's hands. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Traffic in contraband goods; smuggling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who traffics illegally; a smuggler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mus.) The lowest stringed instrument of the violin family; the double bass; -- also applied to any instrument of the same deep range as the stringed double bass; as, the contrabass ophicleide; the contrabass tuba or bombardon. [ 1913 Webster + Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ It. contrabasso. ] (Mus.) The largest kind of bass viol. See Violone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the intentional prevention of conception or impregnation, especially when accomplished by the use of contraceptive medications or devices; a form of birth control. [ WordNet 1.5 ]