buccaneer

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: buc=ca=neer

CIDE DICTIONARY

buccaneer, n. [F. boucanier, fr. boucaner to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins, boucan a smoking place for meat or fish, gridiron for smoking: a word of American origin.].

 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.  [1913 Webster]
" Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Haiti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine."  [1913 Webster]

buccaneer, v. i. 

 To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

buccaneer, n. & v.
--n.
1 a pirate, orig. off the Spanish-American coasts.
2 an unscrupulous adventurer.
--v.intr. be a buccaneer.

Derivative

buccaneering n. & adj. buccaneerish adj.

Etymology

F boucanier f. boucaner cure meat on a barbecue f. boucan f. Tupi mukem

THESAURUS

buccaneer

AB, Ancient Mariner, Argonaut, Blackbeard, Captain Hook, Captain Kidd, Dylan, Flying Dutchman, Henry Morgan, Jean Lafitte, Neptune, OD, Poseidon, Varuna, able seaman, able-bodied seaman, air pirate, airplane hijacker, bluejacket, corsair, deep-sea man, fair-weather sailor, fisherman, freebooter, hearty, jack, jack afloat, jack-tar, jacky, limey, lobsterman, mariner, matelot, navigator, picaroon, pirate, privateer, rover, sailor, salt, sea dog, sea king, sea robber, sea rover, sea wolf, seafarer, seafaring man, seaman, shipman, skyjacker, tar, viking, water dog, whaler, windjammer, windsailor

ROGET THESAURUS

buccaneer

Thief

N thief, robber, homo triumliterarum, pilferer, rifler, filcher, plagiarist, spoiler, depredator, pillager, marauder, harpy, shark, land shark, falcon, mosstrooper, bushranger, Bedouin, brigand, freebooter, bandit, thug, dacoit, pirate, corsair, viking, Paul Jones, buccaneer, buccanier, piqueerer, pickeerer, rover, ranger, privateer, filibuster, rapparee, wrecker, picaroon, smuggler, poacher, abductor, badger, bunko man, cattle thief, chor, contrabandist, crook, hawk, holdup man, hold-up, jackleg, kidnaper, rustler, cattle rustler, sandbagger, sea king, skin, sneak thief, spieler, strong-arm man, highwayman, Dick Turpin, Claude Duval, Macheath, footpad, sturdy beggar, cut purse, pick purse, pickpocket, light-fingered gentry, sharper, card sharper, skittle sharper, thimblerigger, rook, Greek, blackleg, leg, welsher, defaulter, Autolycus, Jeremy Diddler, Robert Macaire, artful dodger, trickster, swell mob, chevalier d'industrie, shoplifter, swindler, peculator, forger, coiner, fence, receiver of stolen goods, duffer, smasher, burglar, housebreaker, cracksman, magsman, Bill Sikes, Jack Sheppard, Jonathan Wild, gang, gang of thieves, theft ring, organized crime, mafia, the Sicilian Mafia, the mob, la cosa nostra, Dillinger, Al Capone, Robin Hood.