Definition of "shebeen"

shebeen

/ʃɪˈbiːn/

noun
plural shebeens
1. An unlicensed drinking establishment, especially in Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa.
  Quotations
  ‘Well, let's line,’ he said to Ben. ‘We can fill up at a shebeen.’
  1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage, published 1998, page 178
  On almost every corner there were shebeens, illegal saloons that were shacks where home-brewed beer was served.
  1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 88
  […] while across Ladbroke Grove, on the mainly black side, the Rio cafe into which I self-consciously tiptoed occasionally became the Mangrove restaurant, and All Saints Road the shebeen and dope-dealing capital of London, under the hammer of the police.
  2007 April 14, Ed Vulliamy, “Absolute MacInnes”, in The Guardian‎
  Every night and day there were bombs and gunshots and riots and roundups, and it didn't take long to gain access to the bars and shebeens where these things were discussed with a certain knowingness.
  2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 146
verb
third-person singular simple present shebeens, present participle shebeening, simple past and past participle shebeened
1. (intransitive) To operate an unlicensed drinking establishment.