Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A pirate, especially one of the freebooters who preyed on Spanish shipping in the West Indies during the 17th century.
- n. A ruthless speculator or adventurer.
Wiktionary
- n. 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.
- n. A pirate.
- v. To engage in piracy against any but one's own nation's ships.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
- v. To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.
WordNet 3.0
- v. live like a buccaneer
- n. someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation
Etymologies
- French boucanier, from boucaner, to cure meat, from boucan, barbecue frame, of Tupian origin; akin to Tupi mukém, rack.
Examples
“You're what they call a buccaneer of business, aren't you?”
Ridgway of Montana (Story of To-Day, in Which the Hero Is Also the Villain)
“And when the German trade journals refused to accept American advertisements, they found their country flamingly bill-boarded in buccaneer American fashion.”
“Describing Siqueiros as a "Latin American buccaneer," Deutscher describes him as a man in whom "art, revolution and gangsterism were inseparable.”
“A silver statue of the Virgin, captured by some buccaneer from a Spanish ship, had been appropriated by”
“American advertisements, they found their country flamingly bill-boarded in buccaneer American fashion.”
“The only difference between a pirate and a buccaneer is a note from the King.”
The Huffington Post: Tina Dupuy: Out of Ideas? Call for a 'Simple Solution'
“A buccaneer was the first to strike and fired three shots to warn the admiral, who at once lighted fires and discharged cannon to keep off the rest of the ships.”
“A privateering command would have paid better than a regular commission, but Jones constantly refused such an appointment; and yet he has been called buccaneer and pirate by many who have written about him, including as recent writers as Rudyard Kipling, John Morley, and Theodore Roosevelt.”
“BTW, bag, I would rather trust the government than the den of thieves called buccaneer capitalists that the rabid right wants to restore to positions of power.”
“The name "buccaneer" originally meant one who dried or smoked flesh on a "boucan," a kind of hurdle used for this purpose by the natives of Central and South America.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘buccaneer’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
Perponyms
List of words referent to persons who commit specific crimes, or are suspected of committing those crimes, beginning with arsonist and safecracker.
Check out reesetee's nice Bad Guys l...arsonist, safecracker, murderer, rapist, getaway man, jewel thief, accomplice, drug dealer, carjacker, gunrunner, industrial spy, human trafficker and 196 more...
-
Pirate Tango
Apparently a group of pirates is called a "tango."
pirate, harbor-pirate, swashbuckler, buccaneer, corsair, rover, sea-rover, sea-robber, sea wolf, sea-rat, water-thief, picaroon and 9 more...
-
Pirate Words
Arrrrrrrgh. September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, mateys.
arrrrrrrrgh., ahoy, plank, avast, shiver-me-timbers, wench, scurvey dogs, aye aye, land lubber, swabbie, swashbuckle, gold and 21 more...
pikachu Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers; it as reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage... --Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) Mar 8, 2011
slumry The old (emphasis on "old") joke that this reminds me of is: Buccaneer? Hellova price to pay for corn! Jul 11, 2007
reesetee Haha! Sionnach, that puts me in mind of one of my dad's old jokes. Don't recall the entire thing, but it ends with "Where are your buccaneers?" "Under me buckin' hat!"
:-) Feb 20, 2007
sionnach the going rate for piercing a pirate's ears. Shiver me timbers! Feb 19, 2007