buccaneer
noun
buc·ca·neer
ˌbə-kə-ˈnir 
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
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
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
The actor was known for playing a buccaneer in 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in Disney’s Johnny Depp action franchise.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 24 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for buccaneer 
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
The actor was known for playing a buccaneer in 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in Disney’s Johnny Depp action franchise.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 24 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for buccaneer
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'buccaneer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near buccaneer
Cite this Entry
“Buccaneer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buccaneer. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
buccaneer
noun
buc·ca·neer
ˌbək-ə-ˈni(ə)r
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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