Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A pirate, especially one of the freebooters who plundered Spanish shipping in the West Indies during the 17th century.
- noun A ruthless speculator or adventurer.
- intransitive verb To plunder shipping; act as a buccaneer.
- intransitive verb To show boldness and enterprise, as in business, often in a reckless or unscrupulous way.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- intransitive verb To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical Any of a group of
seamen whocruised on their ownaccount on theSpanish Main and in thePacific in the 17thcentury ; similar topirates but did notprey onships of their ownnation . - noun A pirate.
- verb To engage in piracy against any but one's own nation's ships.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb live like a buccaneer
- noun someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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"You're what they call a buccaneer of business, aren't you?"
Ridgway of Montana (Story of To-Day, in Which the Hero Is Also the Villain) William MacLeod Raine 1912
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And when the German trade journals refused to accept American advertisements, they found their country flamingly bill-boarded in buccaneer American fashion.
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Describing Siqueiros as a "Latin American buccaneer," Deutscher describes him as a man in whom "art, revolution and gangsterism were inseparable."
The artist as activist: David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974) 2008
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Describing Siqueiros as a "Latin American buccaneer," Deutscher describes him as a man in whom "art, revolution and gangsterism were inseparable."
The artist as activist: David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974) 2008
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A silver statue of the Virgin, captured by some buccaneer from a Spanish ship, had been appropriated by
The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century Clarence Henry Haring 1922
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American advertisements, they found their country flamingly bill-boarded in buccaneer American fashion.
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The only difference between a pirate and a buccaneer is a note from the King.
Tina Dupuy: Out of Ideas? Call for a 'Simple Solution' Tina Dupuy 2010
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The only difference between a pirate and a buccaneer is a note from the King.
Tina Dupuy: Out of Ideas? Call for a 'Simple Solution' Tina Dupuy 2010
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The only difference between a pirate and a buccaneer is a note from the King.
Tina Dupuy: Out of Ideas? Call for a 'Simple Solution' Tina Dupuy 2010
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The only difference between a pirate and a buccaneer is a note from the King.
Tina Dupuy: Out of Ideas? Call for a 'Simple Solution' Tina Dupuy 2010
sionnach commented on the word buccaneer
the going rate for piercing a pirate's ears. Shiver me timbers!
February 20, 2007
reesetee commented on the word buccaneer
Haha! Sionnach, that puts me in mind of one of my dad's old jokes. Don't recall the entire thing, but it ends with "Where are your buccaneers?" "Under me buckin' hat!"
:-)
February 20, 2007
slumry commented on the word buccaneer
The old (emphasis on "old") joke that this reminds me of is: Buccaneer? Hellova price to pay for corn!
July 12, 2007
pikachu commented on the word buccaneer
Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers; it as reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage... --Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
March 9, 2011
gulyasrobi commented on the word buccaneer
Daffynition: too much to pay for corn (a-buck-an-ear)
June 16, 2012