privateer Hear it!

privateer definition

pri·va·teer (prī′və tir′)

noun

  1. a privately owned and manned armed ship commissioned by a government in a war to attack and capture enemy ships, esp. merchant ships
  2. a commander or crew member of a privateer
    also ☆ privateersman pri′·va·teers′·man (-tirz′mən)

Etymology: < privat(e) + -eer

intransitive verb

to sail as a privateer

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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