traffick

English

Etymology

Use of this spelling for the verb in relation to illegal trafficking is probably influenced by the spelling of the noun trafficking.

Verb

traffick (third-person singular simple present trafficks, present participle trafficking, simple past and past participle trafficked)

1. Alternative spelling of traffic (now especially of illegal goods)
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Sets out on His Third Voyage; is taken by Pyrates. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), pages 3–4:

     Therefore in hopes to defray ſome of the Charges he muſt be at, he bought a Sloop, loaded it with ſeveral ſorts of Goods, wherewith the Tinquineſe uſually trade to the neighbouring Iſlands, and putting fourteen Men on board, whereof three were of the Country, he appointed me Maſter of the Sloop, and gave me power to traffick for two Months, while he tranſacted his Affairs at Tonquin.

   • 1970, The Catholic University law review, volume 20, page 760:

     If an addict-possessor who trafficks in narcotics is to be prosecuted, and if these “time to time” acts constitute “trafficking,” then the Watson majority's possession exemption “will prove nearly meaningless […]

   • 1982, Helen Daniel, Double agent: David Ireland and his work, page 159:

     The writer is also a double agent, who trafficks in perceptions and double-deals between circumstances and possibilities, present and future.

   • 1986, The Southeastern Reporter, page 862:

     Appellant contends that the imposition of a fine is totally unauthorized as punishment for conspiracy to traffick in marijuana.

   • 2003, Michael Jackson, Criminal law in Hong Kong, page 637:

     These offences include: (1) Section 129(1): this makes it an offence to traffick in persons to or from Hong Kong for the purpose of prostitution.

Noun

traffick (uncountable)

1. Archaic spelling of traffic.
   • 1743, Pieter de la Court, Political Maxims of the State of Holland, page 29:

     Tho' it is evident by our histories, that in many cities in Holland great quantities of manufactures were made, when all the European traffick and navigation was mostly driven by the Easterlings and Hans-Towns, and before fishing, traffick, and freighting of ships were settled in these provinces […]

   • 1776, James Stewart, The Total Refutation and Political Overthrow of Doctor Price:

     When I take a cursory survey of this great METROPOLIS and its populous ENVIRONS, I cannot help venturing a conjecture, that the sum total of its internal traffick amounts to one million a day of which the actual manufacture from raw or rough materials must arise to a considerable proportion.

   • 1806 December 20, Cobbett's Political Register, volume 10, page 989:

     It does, some persons tell us, do no good, while, on the other hand, it renews in our shocked sight scenes which it is not necessary for me to describe in detail, a traffick, which, for the sake of the liberty of the press, may as well be nameless here, though the reader will find it most circumstantially described in the former speeches of Mr. Grey, now Lord Howick.