privateer
[prahy-vuh-teer]
- an armed ship that is privately owned and manned, commissioned by a government to fight or harass enemy ships.
- privateersman.
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- to cruise as a privateer.
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Origin of privateer
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for privateering
Historical Examples
The gallantry of privateering was degenerating into the bloody brutality of piracy.
Plotting in Pirate SeasFrancis Rolt-Wheeler
A specimen American privateering commission may be seen in doc.
These were the essential documents of a privateering voyage.
Most narratives of privateering or of piracy are found in the form of depositions.
Seamen—you witness—were brutes, in these merry days of privateering.
Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the SeaCharles H. L. Johnston
privateer
- an armed, privately owned vessel commissioned for war service by a government
- Also called: privateersman a commander or member of the crew of a privateer
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- a competitor, esp in motor racing, who is privately financed rather than sponsored by a manufacturer
- (intr) to serve as a privateer
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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 privateering
privateer
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper