privateer


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pri·va·teer

 (prī′və-tîr′)
n.
1. A ship privately owned and crewed but authorized by a government during wartime to attack and capture enemy vessels.
2. The commander or one of the crew of such a ship.
intr.v. pri·va·teered, pri·va·teer·ing, pri·va·teers
To sail as a privateer.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

privateer

(ˌpraɪvəˈtɪə)
n
1. (Nautical Terms) an armed, privately owned vessel commissioned for war service by a government
2. (Nautical Terms) Also called: privateersman a commander or member of the crew of a privateer
vb
3. a competitor, esp in motor racing, who is privately financed rather than sponsored by a manufacturer
4. (Motor Racing) a competitor, esp in motor racing, who is privately financed rather than sponsored by a manufacturer
5. (Nautical Terms) (intr) to serve as a privateer
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pri•va•teer

(ˌpraɪ vəˈtɪər)

n.
1. a privately owned ship commissioned to fight or harass enemy ships.
2. the captain or a crew member of such a vessel.
[1640–50]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

privateer


Past participle: privateered
Gerund: privateering

Imperative
privateer
privateer
Present
I privateer
you privateer
he/she/it privateers
we privateer
you privateer
they privateer
Preterite
I privateered
you privateered
he/she/it privateered
we privateered
you privateered
they privateered
Present Continuous
I am privateering
you are privateering
he/she/it is privateering
we are privateering
you are privateering
they are privateering
Present Perfect
I have privateered
you have privateered
he/she/it has privateered
we have privateered
you have privateered
they have privateered
Past Continuous
I was privateering
you were privateering
he/she/it was privateering
we were privateering
you were privateering
they were privateering
Past Perfect
I had privateered
you had privateered
he/she/it had privateered
we had privateered
you had privateered
they had privateered
Future
I will privateer
you will privateer
he/she/it will privateer
we will privateer
you will privateer
they will privateer
Future Perfect
I will have privateered
you will have privateered
he/she/it will have privateered
we will have privateered
you will have privateered
they will have privateered
Future Continuous
I will be privateering
you will be privateering
he/she/it will be privateering
we will be privateering
you will be privateering
they will be privateering
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been privateering
you have been privateering
he/she/it has been privateering
we have been privateering
you have been privateering
they have been privateering
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been privateering
you will have been privateering
he/she/it will have been privateering
we will have been privateering
you will have been privateering
they will have been privateering
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been privateering
you had been privateering
he/she/it had been privateering
we had been privateering
you had been privateering
they had been privateering
Conditional
I would privateer
you would privateer
he/she/it would privateer
we would privateer
you would privateer
they would privateer
Past Conditional
I would have privateered
you would have privateered
he/she/it would have privateered
we would have privateered
you would have privateered
they would have privateered
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.privateer - an officer or crew member of a privateerprivateer - an officer or crew member of a privateer
crew member, crewman - a member of a flight crew
ship's officer, officer - a person authorized to serve in a position of authority on a vessel; "he is the officer in charge of the ship's engines"
2.privateer - a privately owned warship commissioned to prey on the commercial shipping or warships of an enemy nation
combat ship, war vessel, warship - a government ship that is available for waging war
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

privateer

[ˌpraɪvəˈtɪəʳ] Ncorsario m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

privateer

n (= ship)Freibeuter m, → Kaperschiff nt; (= crew member)Freibeuter m, → Kaperer m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
And there, not unfrequently, sat the rough captain of a privateer, just returned from a successful cruise, in which he had captured half a dozen richly laden vessels belonging to King George's subjects.
A French privateer captured the vessel on her passage home, the flaxseed was condemned and sold, my ancestors being transferred in a body to the ownership of a certain agriculturist in the neighborhood of Evreux, who dealt largely in such articles.
But Miss Betsey here must have altered more than a privateer in disguise, since she has got on her woman’s duds, if she will take offence with an old fellow for the small matter of lighting a few candles.”
Norris was at intervals urging something different; and in the most interesting moment of his passage to England, when the alarm of a French privateer was at the height, she burst through his recital with the proposal of soup.
They say the Jeune Amelie was his, which was taken by the Yankee privateer Molasses.
I only wish I had the command of a clipping privateer to begin with and could carry off the Chancellor and keep him on short allowance until he gave judgment in our cause.
Merchant ships are but extension bridges; armed ones but floating forts; even pirates and privateers, though following the sea as highwaymen the road, they but plunder other ships, other fragments of the land like themselves, without seeking to draw their living from the bottomless deep itself.
I intended, while keeping a sleepless eye out for privateers, to write poems.
I knew that we should either go to the bottom together, or that she would be the making of me; and I never had two days of foul weather all the time I was at sea in her; and after taking privateers enough to be very entertaining, I had the good luck in my passage home the next autumn, to fall in with the very French frigate I wanted.
"Jest here, or hereabouts," Disko replied, "earnin' my bread on the deep waters, and dodgin' Reb privateers. 'Sorry I can't accommodate you with red-hot shot, Tom Platt; but I guess we'll come aout all right on wind 'fore we see Eastern Point."
But to blockade and watch a coastline is one thing, to blockade and watch the whole surface of a country is another, and cruisers and privateers are things that take long to make, that cannot be packed up and hidden and carried unostentatiously from point to point.
As it was, they narrowly escaped capture by some privateers from the fifth-form rooms, who were on the lookout for the hot-water convoys, and pursued them up to the very door of their room, making them spill half their load in the passage.