buccaneer

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From French boucanier, from boucaner (“to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌbʌkəˈnɪə(ɹ)/
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

buccaneer (plural buccaneers)

  1. (nautical) Any of a group of seamen who cruised on their own account on the Spanish Main and in the Pacific in the 17th century; similar to pirates but did not prey on ships of their own nation.
  2. A pirate.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

buccaneer (third-person singular simple present buccaneers, present participle buccaneering, simple past and past participle buccaneered)

  1. To engage in piracy against any but one's own nation's ships.
    • 1963, John Day, Arthur Henry Bullen (editor), The Works of John Day, page v
      In 1596 and 1597 he bucaneered against Sao Thomi, the Portuguese slaving settlement off the coast of West Africa, and in the Spanish Main

See also
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