corsair
Americannoun
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a fast ship used for piracy.
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a pirate, especially formerly of the Barbary Coast.
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Military. Corsair, a gull-winged, propeller-driven fighter plane built for the U.S. Navy in World War II and kept in service into the early 1950s.
noun
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a pirate
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a privateer, esp of the Barbary Coast
Etymology
Origin of corsair
First recorded in 1540–50; from Middle French corsaire, from Provençal corsar(i), from Upper Italian corsaro, from Medieval Latin cursārius, equivalent to Latin curs(us) course + -ārius -ary
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The magazine also highlights cultural sites such as the Hull Maritime Museum, Spurn Lightship and the Arctic Corsair – a former deep-sea trawler that helps tell the port city's story.
From BBC • Oct. 23, 2025
That plant is in the final months of producing the Escape SUV and its luxury cousin, the Lincoln Corsair.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
Within hours, their work was posted on the Corsair website.
From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2024
Another assembly plant in Louisville that now makes Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair small SUVs will get an unspecified new electric vehicle.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 4, 2023
He looked up as he had looked up as a child when his father would bring the black-winged Corsair over their house in New Bern, North Carolina.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.