buccaneer

noun

buc·​ca·​neer ˌbə-kə-ˈnir How to pronounce buccaneer (audio)
1
: any of the freebooters preying on Spanish ships and settlements especially in 17th century West Indies
broadly : pirate
2
: an unscrupulous adventurer especially in politics or business
buccaneer intransitive verb
buccaneerish adjective

Examples of buccaneer in a Sentence

buccaneers preyed upon treasure-laden ships in the Caribbean for nearly three hundred years
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
However, the swarthy crew has an abundance of muscles and ego, not one of the buccaneers knows how to read. Jamie Lang, Variety, 20 Sep. 2024 The Adventureland Suite exudes the romance of exploration, while the opulent Pirates of the Caribbean Suite is filled with a trove of treasure maps, chests and buccaneer memorabilia. Robb Report Studio, Robb Report, 8 Aug. 2024 The first, the buccaneers, plundered Spain’s holdings around the Caribbean in the middle of the seventeenth century. Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024 Taylor Wily, Hawaii Five-0 and Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor, dies at 56 Perry appeared in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, which starred Penélope Cruz and Johnny Depp, as one of the buccaneers. Shania Russell, EW.com, 24 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for buccaneer 

Word History

Etymology

French boucanier woodsman, pirate (in the 17th century West Indies), from boucaner to smoke meat, from boucan wooden frame for smoking meat, from Tupi mokaʔẽ́, mbokaʔẽ́, from mo-, mbo- causative marker + kaʔẽ to be roasted, dried

First Known Use

1686, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of buccaneer was in 1686

Dictionary Entries Near buccaneer

Cite this Entry

“Buccaneer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buccaneer. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

buccaneer

noun
buc·​ca·​neer ˌbək-ə-ˈni(ə)r How to pronounce buccaneer (audio)
Etymology

from French boucanier "hunter who smokes meat over a grill"

Word Origin
In the 17th century Frenchmen living off the land in the West Indies were known as boucaniers because they preserved meat by smoking it over a wooden grill. The grill was called a boucan, after the Brazilian Indigenous name for it. When some of these men took to the sea as pirates, the word boucanier continued to be applied to them, and was borrowed into English as buccaneer.

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