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buccaneer

noun

  1. privateers or free sailors during the 17th and 18th centuries
L317460 on Wikidata ↗

verb

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L331026 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˌbʌkəˈnɪɚ/

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Tupian *mo- Proto-Tupi-Guarani *mo- Proto-Tupi-Guarani *kaʔẽ Proto-Tupi-Guarani *mokaʔẽ Old Tupi mboka'ẽbor. French boucan Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Old French -ier Middle French -er French -ier French boucanierbor. English buccaneer From French boucanier, from boucaner (“to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins”), from boucan (“(Tupi-style) grill”), from Old Tupi moka'ẽ, mboka'ẽ (“wooden grill”). By surface analysis, buccan + -eer.

  1. Any 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.[…]”

  2. A pirate.

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Tupian *mo- Proto-Tupi-Guarani *mo- Proto-Tupi-Guarani *kaʔẽ Proto-Tupi-Guarani *mokaʔẽ Old Tupi mboka'ẽbor. French boucan Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Old French -ier Middle French -er French -ier French boucanierbor. English buccaneer From French boucanier, from boucaner (“to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins”), from boucan (“(Tupi-style) grill”), from Old Tupi moka'ẽ, mboka'ẽ (“wooden grill”). By surface analysis, buccan + -eer.

  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