buccaneer

plural buccaneers · alternative bucanier · alternative buccanier

1. nauticalAny of a group of seamen who cruised on their own account on the Spanish Main and in the Pacific in the 17th century, who were similar to pirates but did not prey on ships of their own nation.

   “Heard of him!” cried the squire. “Heard of him, you say! He was the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed.[…]”

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part I (The Old Buccaneer), page 48

2. A pirate.

present singular third person buccaneers · participle present buccaneering · participle past buccaneered · past buccaneered · alternative bucanier · alternative buccanier

1. To engage in piracy against any but one's own nation's ships.

   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, edited by Arthur Henry Bullen, The Works of John Day, page v