pirate

/ˈpaɪrət/

/ˈpaɪrɪt/

Other forms: pirates; pirated; pirating

Yarg, matey! A cartoon pirate wears an eye patch, three-cornered hat, billowy shirt, and tall black boots. In real life, a pirate just boards ships and robs them of cargo, valuables, and money, often while wearing regular boring clothes.

Pirates have been around since humans have been shipping valuable goods by boat across oceans. You can also use pirate as a verb to describe what these robbers do. Today, in addition to traditional pirates, there are pirates who use digital creative material, like books, movies, games, and music, without paying for it. If you pirate a movie, you make a copy and sell it illegally. The Greek root of pirate is peirates, "one who attacks."

Definitions of pirate

1. noun

   someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation
   synonyms: buccaneer, sea robber, sea rover

   examples:

   Jean Laffite

   French pirate who aided the United States in the War of 1812 and received an official pardon for his crimes (1780-1826)

   Sir Henry Morgan

   a Welsh buccaneer who raided Spanish colonies in the West Indies for the English (1635-1688)

   Bartholomew Roberts

   a Welsh pirate credited with having taken more than 400 ships (1682-1722)

   Edward Thatch

   an English pirate who operated in the Caribbean and off the Atlantic coast of North America (died in 1718)

   types:

   Barbary pirate, corsair

   a pirate along the Barbary Coast

   sea king

   a Viking pirate chief

   type of:

   despoiler, freebooter, looter, pillager, plunderer, raider, spoiler

   someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war)
2. noun

   a ship that is manned by pirates
   synonyms: pirate ship

   types:

   corsair

   a swift pirate ship (often operating with official sanction)

   type of:

   ship

   a vessel that carries passengers or freight
3. noun

   someone who uses another person's words or ideas as if they were his own
   synonyms: literary pirate, plagiariser, plagiarist, plagiarizer

   type of:

   stealer, thief

   a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
4. verb

   take arbitrarily or by force
   synonyms: commandeer, highjack, hijack

   types:

   skyjack

   subject an aircraft to air piracy

   carjack

   take someone's car from him by force, usually with the intention of stealing it

   type of:

   seize

   take or capture by force
5. verb

   copy illegally; of published material
   type of:

   steal

   take without the owner's consent