drug lord
33
4.9
- noun
- /drʌg lɔrd/
- NSFW
:
capo
- The police arrested the notorious drug lord during a raid on his compound.
- Colombian drug lord
- female drug lord
How does a Glasgow boy get that call to kill the biggest drug cartel and the biggest drug Lord?
- How does a Glasgow boy get that call to kill the biggest drug cartel and the biggest drug Lord?
- Yeah, dubbed one of the biggest drug Lords and the UK, You've been all over Colombia, South America.
Examples
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Jimmy Nix had been a minor, but surprisingly well-armed, drug lord in the area.
Blog text (23) -
The Shining Path has cut deals with the drug lords.
Fiction book (1995) -
The rock attacks did not stop, some claimed, until the drug lord called from prison to call off the assault.
Academic text (1996) -
Was the city trying to strike a deal with the drug lords?
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Now she was heavily involved with a drug lord named Dick Trail.
Fiction book (2002) -
Wells has been hired by the drug lord to get the money back.
Blog text (20) -
Are we not being held hostage by drug lords anymore?
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The guy on the bike, that's the drug lord!
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Biggest drug lord in India versus biggest drug lord in Bangladesh.
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With enough dough, you buy off the police, bribe the drug lords, and live like a king.
Blog text (17)
Synonyms
33
6.4
A person who leads a group that does illegal things
1
5.8
A person who controls a large illegal drug business
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person who controls the illegal drug trade' is directly derivable from combining 'drug' (the domain) with 'lord' (a person with authority or control). This compound pattern (e.g., warlord, crime lord) is productive and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Drug lord combines drug and lord. Think of a powerful 'lord' who rules a small area and makes the rules there. When that power is over illegal drugs, the person is called a drug lord, so the phrase means 'a person who controls the illegal drug trade'.