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tapadera

lid, cover

noun tah-pah-DEH-rah Rare

Also means

front (for illicit activity)

Usage Note

Tapadera literally means a lid or cover — la tapadera de la olla ('the pot lid'). In colloquial and journalistic Spanish it has a well-established figurative sense of a 'front' or 'cover' for illegal activity — una empresa tapadera ('a front company'). The literal object is also called tapa, which is the more common everyday term.

Examples

"La tienda era una tapadera para el contrabando."

Natural Translation

The shop was a front for smuggling.

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