go on the account

verb

To become a pirate; to join a pirating or filibustering expedition.

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Meanings

verbgo on the account (third-person singular simple present goes on the account, present participle going on the account, simple past went on the account, past participle gone on the account)

present singular third person goes on the account · participle present going on the account · past went on the account · participle past gone on the account

  1. nauticalTo become a pirate; to join a pirating or filibustering expedition.

    However, during peacetime, privateers and navy men were left without employment, so they often went on the account.

    1999, Hans Turley, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 118
    2 more examples

    And as for serving under Goffe, I hope it is no new thing for gentlemen of fortune who are going on the account, to change a Captain now and then?

    1822, Walter Scott, The Pirate

    At this island he ran away from his ship, and associating himself with some desperate fellows, they stole a canoe, and went away to the Grand Camanas, to join some others of their own stamp, who lurked thereabouts, with design to go on the account, the term for pirating.

    1836, Ezra Strong, “Captain Thomas Howard”, in The Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates
Cite this entry
APA

go on the account. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20on%20the%20account

MLA

“go on the account.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20on%20the%20account. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go on the account,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20on%20the%20account.

Source: go on the account on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.