Word Study
viking
CIDE DICTIONARY
viking, n. [Icel. vīkingr, fr. vīk a bay, inlet.].
One belonging to the pirate crews from among the Northmen, who plundered the coasts of Europe in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. [1913 Webster]
" Viking differs in meaning from sea king, with which it is frequently confounded. “The sea king was a man connected with a royal race, either of the small kings of the country, or of the Haarfager family, and who, by right, received the title of king as soon he took the command of men, although only of a single ship's crew, and without having any land or kingdom . . . Vikings were merely pirates, alternately peasants and pirates, deriving the name of viking from the vicks, wicks, or inlets, on the coast in which they harbored with their long ships or rowing galleys.”" Laing. [1913 Webster]
"Of grim Vikings, and the rapture
Of the sea fight, and the capture,
And the life of slavery." [1913 Webster]
Of the sea fight, and the capture,
And the life of slavery." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
viking, n. & adj.
--n. any of the Scandinavian seafaring pirates and traders who raided and settled in parts of NW Europe in the 8th-11th c.
--adj. of or relating to the Vikings or their time.
--n. any of the Scandinavian seafaring pirates and traders who raided and settled in parts of NW Europe in the 8th-11th c.
--adj. of or relating to the Vikings or their time.
Etymology
ON v{iacute}kingr, perh. f. OE wicing f. wic camp
THESAURUS
viking
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, buccaneer, corsair, deep-sea man, fair-weather sailor, fisherman, hearty, jack, jack afloat, jack-tar, jacky, limey, lobsterman, mariner, matelot, navigator, picaroon, pirate, privateer, rover, sailor, salt, sea dog, sea king, sea rover, seafarer, seafaring man, seaman, shipman, skyjacker, tar, water dog, whaler, windjammer, windsailorROGET THESAURUS
viking
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.For further exploring for "viking" in Webster Dictionary Online