buccaneer Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation
    sea robber; pirate; sea rover.
  2. verb live like a buccaneer

WordNet

Buc`ca*neer" noun
Etymology
F. boucanier, fr. boucaner to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins, boucan a smoking place for meat or fish, gridiron for smoking: a word of American origin.
Definitions
  1. A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Written also bucanier. ✍ Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Hayti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine.
Buc`ca*neer" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.

Webster 1913