Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person who pillages and plunders, especially a pirate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who wanders about in search of plunder; a robber; a pillager; a plunderer.
- n. Synonyms Marauder, etc. See robber.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare; a member of a predatory band; a pillager; a buccaneer; a sea robber.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war)
Etymologies
- Calque of Dutch vrijbuiter (literally "free booty-er"), from vrij ("free") + buit ("booty") + -er ("agent"), whence also filibuster. (Wiktionary)
- Dutch vrijbuiter, from vrijbuit, plunder : vrij, free; see prī- in Indo-European roots + buit, booty (from Middle Dutch būte, of Middle Low German origin). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A certain Dutch freebooter, however, Simon Danzer by name, a native of Dordrecht, who had been alternately in the service of Spain,”
“Captain Thomas Randall, described as a freebooter of the seas, who commanded the "Fox," and sailed for years in and out of New Orleans, where he sold the proceeds of his voyages and captures.”
“The honest captain had caught this word from a recent treatise against agrarianism, and having an acquired taste for orders in one sense, at least, he flattered himself with being what is called a Conservative, in other words, he had a strong relish for that maxim of the Scotch freebooter, which is rendered into English by the comely aphorism of "keep what you've got, and get what you can.”
“However he had been driven to consort with outlaws, and to live a kind of freebooter's life, his natural sweetness was unspoiled, and was reinforced by solemn veneration for the sanctity of the Lord's anointing, which he reverenced all the more because himself had received it.”
“It enters, for instance, with grave humour into the strong distinction taken in the debatable land between a "freebooter" and a "thief," and the difficulty which the inland counties had in grasping it, and paints for us, with great vivacity, the various Border superstitions.”
“The French adventurers, however, seem always to have restricted the word "boucanier" to its proper signification, that of a hunter and curer of meat; and when they developed into corsairs, by a curious contrast they adopted an English name and called themselves "filibustiers," which is merely the French sailor's way of pronouncing the English word "freebooter." [”
“a new scheme for holding up travellers for the purpose of robbery, and many of them evidently thought me a kind of freebooter, who ought to be suppressed by law.”
“As one former apple-selling "freebooter" put it, "Yeah, business is better now.”
“To-morrow I would be an oyster pirate, as free a freebooter as the century and the waters of San”
“So that thing before him was Big Ivan -- Big Ivan the giant, the man without nerves, the man of iron, the Cossack turned freebooter of the seas, who was as phlegmatic as an ox, with a nervous system so low that what was pain to ordinary men was scarcely”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘freebooter’.
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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 4087 more...
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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 216 more...
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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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...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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A Swell Mob
Kinds of thieves.
thief, sneak thief, burglar, cat burglar, picklock, puggard, robber, grave robber, piller, porch climber, prowler, larcenist and 133 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, F
felony, frolic, fend, fuselage, farthingale, freewheeling, frigorific, flummery, fancypants, felsitic, flagstone, flageolet and 295 more...
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kingrat47's Words
procrustean, devolution, cacophony, hippopotamus, crunch, beware, chortled, sibilant, subtle, undermine, acromegaly, acropolis and 645 more...
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Red Seas Under Red Skies
Words and phrase from Scott Lynch's book, Red Seas Under Red Skies.
legate, pugnacity, weevil, steady as a dry-d..., chit, sans, apprise, forfend, ken, expatriate, enclave, scrubs and 220 more...
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Skip The Light Fontastic
Fonts whose names are wacky, powerful, intriguing, whimsical, exotic and so on.
buttzilla, consolas, trebuchet, chanticleer, earthpig, dwarves, ciao, ghost town, goodfish, i still know, gorilla milkshake, immoral and 212 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Luck in the Shadows
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Luck in the Shadows.
belly, barbican, pediment, withers, hirsute, oriel, tabard, telesm, thaumaturgy, switch, spargetaction, towheaded and 125 more...
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vivek's list
flibbertigibbet, droll, reticence, prelude, erinaceous, brinkmanship, depone, inaniloquent, limerance, pronk, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and 385 more...
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storylined's Words
nephilim, prophecy, demigod, storylined, covenant, immemorial, vespertine, twilight, gloaming, warden, freebooter, mockingbird and 2 more...
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UndeadFred's list
twilight, zombie, deadite, gloaming, preternatural, vespertine, covenant, nephilim, freebooter, gloaming, undead, occult and 1 more...
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Ahoy!
Drink up me 'earties!
barnacle, cutlass, grog, blunderbuss, plunder, buccaneer, parlay, doubloon, keelhaul, scallywag, avast, hornswaggle and 15 more...
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