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Blackbeard

[blak-beerd]
noun
  1. pseudonym of Edward Teach.
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Teach

[teech]
noun
  1. EdwardBlackbeard, died 1718, English pirate and privateer in the Americas.
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Also Thatch, Thach.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for blackbeard

Historical Examples

  • Blackbeard again jumped up in the air and clapped his heels.

    Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates

    Howard Pyle

  • "I do suppose Blackbeard's so afraid he don't know how to see," said the first speaker.

  • The lieutenant heard somebody say, "That's Blackbeard hisself."

  • One morning Captain Blackbeard finds that his stock of medicine is low.

  • Blackbeard was one of the most desperate pirates of the age.

British Dictionary definitions for blackbeard

Blackbeard

noun
  1. nickname of (Edward) TeachSee Teach
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Teach

noun
  1. Edward, known as Blackbeard. died 1718, English pirate, active in the West Indies and on the Atlantic coast of North America
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teach

verb teaches, teaching or taught
  1. (tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive often foll by how) to help to learn; tell or show (how)to teach someone to paint; to teach someone how to paint
  2. to give instruction or lessons in (a subject) to (a person or animal)to teach French; to teach children; she teaches
  3. (tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to cause to learn or understandexperience taught him that he could not be a journalist
  4. Also: teach someone a lesson informal to cause (someone) to suffer the unpleasant consequences of some action or behaviour
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Derived Formsteachable, adjective

Word Origin

Old English tǣcan; related to tācen token, Old Frisian tēken, Old Saxon tēkan, Old High German zeihhan, Old Norse teikn sign
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for blackbeard

teach

v.

Old English tæcan (past tense and past participle tæhte) "to show, point out," also "to give instruction," from Proto-Germanic *taikijanan (cf. Old High German zihan, German zeihen "to accuse," Gothic ga-teihan "to announce"), from PIE *deik- "to show, point out" (see diction). Related to Old English tacen, tacn "sign, mark" (see token). Related: Taught; teaching.

Old English tæcan had more usually a sense of "show, declare, warn, persuade" (cf. German zeigen "to show," from the same root); while the Old English word for "to teach, instruct, guide" was more commonly læran, source of modern learn and lore.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper