privateer
2
9.0
- noun
- /ˌpraɪvəˈtɪr/
- Archaic
:
corsario
- If the seized captain was found guilty of trading with the enemy, the privateer was entitled to proceeds from the sale of the captured vessel and cargo.
- French privateer
- privateer ship
- big privateer
Examples
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Privateers under the flag of St. George.
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We're very grateful to you for saving us from those horrible privateers.
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Jack will be free, a privateer in the employ of England.
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I heard that Arnold owns a privateer!
Fiction book (1994) -
If the capture was declared unlawful, on the other hand, the privateer would be held liable for any damages caused.
Academic text (2011) -
Wisely, he returned to the Bahamas, where he finished out his career in command of a successful privateer.
Academic text (2007) -
Settling on land along the Ogeechee River, he operated in the Caribbean as a highly profitable privateer.
Academic text (2007) -
A Spanish privateer captured the Acona, which was full of rice that had been loaded at Charles Town, South Carolina, and was on its way to English markets, and took the vessel to St. Augustine, Florida.
Academic text (2007) -
The French privateer Jean Bart was so effective in attacking Dutch shipping in the late seventeenth century that King Louis XIV ennobled him and gave him a captain's commission in the French navy.
Academic text (2009) -
During the war, many brave sailors became privateers, attacking enemy ships for their government.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Privateer comes from private ('not public' or 'owned by a person') and the ending -er ('one who does something'), so it originally meant a ship owned by private people that was allowed, with a government 'letter', to attack enemy ships.