Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. an official commission from a government authorizing someone to seize the property or people of another nation; especially to attack merchant shipping of another nation
- n. nautical a ship that has been armed for such a task
WordNet 3.0
- n. a license to a private citizen to seize property of another nation
Examples
““And she holds a letter of marque from Slotter Key.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘letter of marque’.
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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Arrrrr.
drink up, me hearties, yo ho!
bilge rat, avast, plunder, scuttle, jib, starboard, larboard, gallows, gallows tree, doubloon, letter of marque, port and 1 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for letter of marque.
chained_bear I know that this phrase is commonly used to indicate "permission" papers bestowed upon privateers, which differ from pirates in that they sail with the permission of a given government to pillage the shipping of nations with which that government is at war (or at any rate, not having a peaceful trade agreement with them). I did not know that it can also be used to apply to the ship itself in such service. La:
"'...The word privateer has unpleasant echoes for the seaman, and it might be thought injurious... In any case she is no ordinary privateer... So bearing all this in mind, perhaps you would be well advised to refer to her as a private man-of-war, or if you find that disagreeable, as a letter of marque.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 22 Feb 27, 2008