September Sampler: Beyond "Buccaneer" and "Booty": Words for Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19

International Talk Like A Pirate Day is celebrated on September 19. In the swashbuckling spirit, this list covers words every self-respecting pirate should know: parts of a ship, sailing jargon, terms for pirates, etc. With these words at your command, you can take the whole pirate thing way beyond "arrgh," eyepatches, and annoying birds that perch on your shoulder.

For more, check out the full article: Buccaneer, Bilge and Booty: Words Every Self-respecting Pirate Should Know
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aboard
    on a ship, train, plane or other vehicle
    I put us aboard a pirate ship in the middle of terrible storm. Amari and the Night Brothers
  2. adventure
    a wild and exciting undertaking
    “Be my second eye,” the captain says, “and you shall have riches and grand adventures beyond imagining.” Challenger Deep
  3. anchor
    a mechanical device that prevents a vessel from moving
    No, I mean an actual fog sails in off the river and settles over Lanternwood, like a giant ghostly ship dropping anchor. How to Disappear Completely
  4. attack
    an offensive against an enemy
    “There’s been an attack on one of our outposts,” he replies. Amari and the Night Brothers
  5. ballast
    any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship
    The ballast water that stabilizes marine vessels is the greatest source of harmful bacteria and invasive species in aquatic ecosystems.
    – Nature
  6. bay
    an indentation of a shoreline smaller than a gulf
    We sit like that for a moment, looking at the ships on the bay. Every Day
  7. bilge
    where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom
    The vessel was leaky, so the bilges were constantly filling with a mixture of oil and seawater.
    – Washington Times
    Used to describe foulness and garbage, the bilge is technically "the lowest internal part of a ship." The sense of the word has been extended, however to all the gross stuff that collects there from small leaks and dead animals and the like. The word is historically a variant of bulge which comes from old French boulge "leather sack."
  8. booty
    goods or money obtained illegally
    He made me think of a pirate captain disposing of the booty. A Separate Peace
  9. buccaneer
    someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea
    Buccaneers and pirate-wannabes of all ages abound, since pirate attire is encouraged and usually available from event vendors.
    – Seattle Times
    Buccaneer is a word that is synonymous with pirate. Originally specific to pirates on the Spanish coast, it has expanded to encompass the whole group. The stability of buccaneer in our collective minds probably has a lot to do with the pirate ship in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' stadium that shoots off fake cannons every time the team scores a touchdown. Until a few years ago, their logo even included an image of a pirate with a blade in his teeth.
  10. cannon
    a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels
    The listing pirate ship turned about to block the man-o’-war’s pursuit with a broadside of cannon blasts. The Smartest Kid in the Universe
  11. capture
    take possession of by force, as after an invasion
    “I guess a privateer would be a pirate in peacetime. But this is war. We only capture English ships.” Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
  12. careen
    move sideways or in an unsteady way
    The ship careened to one side, taking evasive maneuvers. The House of Hades
    This verb originally applied to ships and is from a French word which literally translates as "to expose a ship's keel, which means that the ship was turned on its side, a very dangerous situation for those aboard.
  13. coast
    the shore of a sea or ocean
    Now the ship that had plundered and pillaged up and down the east coast of the American colonies was sinking under the relentless attack of a British man-o’-war that had chased it upriver. The Smartest Kid in the Universe
  14. dangerous
    involving or causing risk; liable to hurt or harm
    The waters of the Rio Grande were dangerous, and Mamá wouldn’t care that our swimming hole seemed safe to me. Summer of the Mariposas
  15. fathom
    a linear unit of measurement for water depth
    The film borrowed heavily from a recent American picture, “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” but put a distinctly Japanese spin on the allegory.
    – Washington Post
    Fathom can be both a verb and a noun. The verb is the more common in everyday usage and means "to understand", to get one’s head around. The noun is the pirate definition though, and it is a measurement of depth, roughly equivalent to 6 feet. The connection between the two definitions is that if something is a fathom in depth it is "able to be measured," the way something that is fathomable is "able to be understood."
  16. hoist
    lifting device for raising heavy or cumbersome objects
    I moved beside Fred, budging my way into the front row to see the shark’s body being pulled by the hoist from just below the dock. The Line Tender
  17. keel
    one of the main longitudinal beams of the hull of a vessel
    But the keel remained intact, and the boat eventually righted itself, though it was flooded.
    – Washington Times
    The keel is the lowest plank of wood on a boat. It is the foundational piece, and the ship depends on it for strength and stability. The phrase "keep an even keel" comes from maintaining a level, horizontal position on a ship, and has been metaphorically extended to mean keeping a calm demeanor and not going from one extreme emotion to another.
  18. maroon
    leave stranded or isolated with little hope of rescue
    Estimates of losses were not available, with rescuers yet to reach villages marooned by the worst floods in recent years.
    – Reuters
  19. outlaw
    a criminal, especially one on the run from police
    “That man is a discredit to all our kind. How long has it been this way? Kings and queens can squabble for land, but no self-respecting outlaw says he owns the sea.” The Reader
  20. pillage
    steal goods; take as spoils
    Now the ship that had plundered and pillaged up and down the east coast of the American colonies was sinking under the relentless attack of a British man-o’-war that had chased it upriver. The Smartest Kid in the Universe
  21. pirate
    someone who robs and plunders at sea
    The group will wear pirate hats and shirts that say “Pirates From De West,” and their float is designed to look like an abandoned ship.
    – New York Times
    Where does the word pirate itself come from? Latin pirata comes from Greek peirates . The Greek is literally “one who attacks,” from peiran “to attack, make a hostile attempt on.”
  22. plank
    a wooden board used for building or making a structure
    “When will you learn? You walk in step with the captain, or you walk the plank—which, being copper, will not give you the proper bounce for a graceful dive.” Challenger Deep
  23. plunder
    goods or money obtained illegally
    They loaded ten ships with their plunder, and sailed happily home. Beowulf: A New Telling
  24. privateer
    one who works on a ship commissioned to prey on other ships
    “I guess a privateer would be a pirate in peacetime. But this is war. We only capture English ships.” Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
  25. prow
    the front part of a vessel
    Ahead, the ship’s prow jutted into the fogbank. The City Beautiful
    The word for the front part of a ship, prow, is related to the word element pro which is found in English words like proceed, which literally means "to go on, to go before."
  26. scurvy
    a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid
    Scurvy, an 18th century disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, appears to have made a surprise comeback in Australia.
    – The Guardian
    This is a disease many pirates would contract because there was a lack of fresh fruit or other sources of Vitamin C. Scurvy involves swollen and bleeding gums and general weakness. From French scorbut.
  27. stern
    the rear part of a ship
    That stern of a Turkish gulet where 10 of us slept on cushions under the stars.
    – The Guardian
    The stern is where the steering gear of the ship is located, and the word derives from Old Norse styra, which meant "to guide." The more familiar adjective stern meaning "severe, strict or cruel" is unrelated to this term.
  28. treasure
    accumulated wealth, as in the form of money or jewels
    Dallas was imagining that they were tracking pirates who would lead them to buried treasure. Ruby Holler
  29. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    The Discovery bobs in the river as the gentlemen on board unfurl her sails. Blood on the River
  30. voyage
    an act of traveling by water
    Our ship is a galleon, weathered from a million voyages going back to ages even darker than this. Challenger Deep
Created on Sat Aug 26 21:02:19 EDT 2017 (updated Thu Jul 13 15:43:01 EDT 2023)

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