Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Buccaneer
Bucˊca-neer′
,Noun.
[F.
boucanier
, fr. boucaner
to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins, boucan
a smoking place for meat or fish, gridiron for smoking: a word of American origin.] A robber upon the sea; a pirate; – a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries.
[Written also
bucanier
.] ☞ Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Haiti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine.
Bucˊca-neer′
,Verb.
I.
To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.
Definition 2024
buccaneer
buccaneer
English
Noun
buccaneer (plural buccaneers)
- (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.
- A pirate.
Translations
a group of seamen
pirate
Synonyms
Derived terms
See also
Verb
buccaneer (third-person singular simple present buccaneers, present participle buccaneering, simple past and past participle buccaneered)
- 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
- 1963, John Day, Arthur Henry Bullen (editor), The Works of John Day, page v