cangaceiro

plural cangaceiros

1. historicalA type of nomadic bandit in Northeast Brazil.

   Dry Gulch looks like a cangaceiro with his leather hat and crossed cartridge belts.

   1988, Jorge Amado, translated by Gregory Rabassa, Captains of the Sands, Penguin, published 2013, page 58

   2 more examples

   Cangaceiros and flying brigades alike ate up the provisions of the townspeople of Custódia, got drunk on their cane brandy, and tried to rape their women.

   1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, published 2012, page 68

   That night Deraldo has a dream in which, dressed as a cangaceiro, he stands on a street corner and challenges passersby, who point and laugh at him.

   2010, Darlene J. Sadlier, Brazil Imagined, page 260