buccaneer

English

Alternative forms

• bucanier (obsolete)
• buccanier (archaic)

Etymology

From French boucanier, from boucaner (“to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins”), from boucan (“grill (Native American Style)”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Tupi mokaém "grill"

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbʌkəˈnɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

buccaneer (plural buccaneers)

1. (nautical) Any of a group of seamen who cruised on their own account on the Spanish Main and in the Pacific in the 17th century; similar to pirates but did not prey on ships of their own nation.
2. A pirate.

Synonyms

• privateer, pirate, see also Thesaurus:pirate

Derived terms

• buccaneering
• buccaneerish

Translations

a group of seamen

• Czech: bukanýr m
• Dutch: kaper (nl) m
• Finnish: bukkaneeri (fi), merirosvo (fi)
• French: boucanier (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: bucaniere (it) m
• Polish: kaper (pl) m, bukanier (pl) m, korsarz (pl)
• Swedish: buckanjär c

pirate

• Dutch: boekanier (nl) m, piraat (nl) m
• Esperanto: marrabisto
• Greek:

  Ancient: πειρατής m (peiratḗs)

• Hebrew: בּוּקָנִיר (he) m (bukanir)
• Ido: pirato (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: bucaniere (it) m, pirata (it) m, corsaro (it) m
• Polish: bukanier (pl) m, pirat (pl) m, korsarz (pl) m
• Portuguese: bucaneiro (pt) m
• Swedish: buckanjär c, sjörövare (sv) c, pirat (sv) c
• Welsh: môr-ysbeiliwr m, môr-ysbeilwyr m pl

Verb

buccaneer (third-person singular simple present buccaneers, present participle buccaneering, simple past and past participle buccaneered)

1. To engage in piracy against any but one's own nation's ships.
   • 1963, John Day, Arthur Henry Bullen (editor), The Works of John Day, page v

     In 1596 and 1597 he bucaneered against Sao Thomi, the Portuguese slaving settlement off the coast of West Africa, and in the Spanish Main

See also

• Jolly Roger
• skull and crossbones