Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pirate.
  • noun A pirate ship.
  • intransitive verb To act as a pirate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An instrument like a boat-hook, used in mooring logs or deals.
  • noun A rogue or cheat; one who lives by his wits; an adventurer.
  • noun A plunderer; especially, a plunderer of wrecks; a pirate; a corsair.
  • noun A small pirate ship; a privateer or corsair.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who plunders; especially, a plunderer of wrecks; a pirate; a corsair; a marauder; a sharper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pirate or picaro.
  • noun A pirate ship.
  • noun A rogue.
  • verb To behave as a pirate.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish picarón, augmentative of pícaro, picaro; see picaro.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish picarón, from pícaro "rogue".

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Examples

  • BLOCK: Thoughts from public radio's picaroon of drollery, Brian Unger.

    Get Ready For GWOP: The Global War On Pirates 2009

  • Janet looked at him with the sly simplicity of her sect, and replied, “Notwithstanding thy boasted honesty, friend, and although I am not accustomed to read and pass judgment on such volumes as thou hast submitted to my perusal, I think I see in thy countenance something of the pedlar-something of the picaroon.”

    Kenilworth 2004

  • Off the island of Planoca it was overpowered and captured by a little picaroon, with lateen sails and a couple of guns, and a most villainous crew, in poverty-stricken garments, rusty cutlasses in their hands and stilettos and pistols stuck in their waistbands.

    Washington Irving 2004

  • As to the picaroon or privateer, she was able to do little in the matter, not daring to come so near the men-of-war as to take a broadside, which her thin sides would not have been able to bear, but would have sent her to the bottom at once; so that the English men-of-war had no assistance from her, nor could she prevent the taking the two merchant-ships.

    From London to Land's End 2003

  • As to the picaroon or privateer, she was able to do little in the matter, not daring to come so near the men-of-war as to take a broadside, which her thin sides would not have been able to bear, but would have sent her to the bottom at once; so that the English men-of-war had no assistance from her, nor could she prevent the taking the two merchant-ships.

    From London to Land's End 2003

  • As to the picaroon or privateer, she was able to do little in the matter, not daring to come so near the men-of-war as to take a broadside, which her thin sides would not have been able to bear, but would have sent her to the bottom at once; so that the English men-of-war had no assistance from her, nor could she prevent the taking the two merchant-ships.

    From London to Land's End 2003

  • I stopped 'em back there a ways with my picaroon, when they sung out, an 'they walked down here on the side planks.

    The Spinner's Book of Fiction Various

  • Oram, the intrepid flume-herder, laughed, dug his picaroon into a log, and asked:

    The Spinner's Book of Fiction Various

  • The space-axe -- a combination and sublimation of battle-axe, mace, bludgeon, and lumberman's picaroon, a massively needle-pointed implement of potentialities limited only by the physical strength and bodily agility of its wielder.

    Galactic Patrol Smith, E. E. 1950

  • _Athenæum_ necrologist accorded her half a column of obituary, in which she was described as "this pretty, picaroon woman, whose name can never be omitted from any chronicle of Bavaria."

    The Magnificent Montez From Courtesan to Convert Horace Wyndham

Comments

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  • My Gr 12 girlfriend introduced me to this word for pirate

    April 9, 2009

  • How lucky you arrrrr!

    April 9, 2009

  • Pick a rrroon! Any rrroon!

    April 9, 2009

  • interesting etymology, leading ultimately to pique

    June 15, 2009