Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who commits or practices piracy at sea.
  • noun One who makes use of or reproduces the work of another without authorization.
  • noun One who illegally intercepts or uses radio or television signals, especially one who operates an illegal television or radio station.
  • intransitive verb To attack and rob (a ship at sea).
  • intransitive verb To take (something) by piracy.
  • intransitive verb To make use of or reproduce (another's work) without authorization.
  • intransitive verb To act as a pirate; practice piracy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who without authority and by violence seizes or interferes with the ship or property of another on the sea; specifically, one who is habitually engaged in such robbery, or sails the seas for the robbery and plunder of merchant vessels; a freebooter or corsair; a sea-robber. See piracy.
  • noun An armed vessel which sails without a legal commission, for the purpose of plundering other vessels indiscriminately on the high seas.
  • noun A publisher, compiler, or bookseller who appropriates the literary or artistic labors of an author without compensation or permission; specifically, one who infringes on the copyright of another.
  • noun Any pirate-perch.
  • noun A stream that, by reason of its more favorable situation or its greater activity, encroaches upon the territory of a neigh-boring stream to such extent as to capture a part of its watercourse.
  • To play the pirate; rob on the high seas.
  • To appropriate and reproduce the literary or artistic work of another without right or permission; specifically, to infringe on the copyright of another.
  • To commit piracy upon; play the pirate toward.
  • To appropriate and publish without permission or legal right, as books, writings, etc.; use or reproduce illegally.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A robber on the high seas; one who by open violence takes the property of another on the high seas; especially, one who makes it his business to cruise for robbery or plunder; a freebooter on the seas; also, one who steals in a harbor.
  • noun An armed ship or vessel which sails without a legal commission, for the purpose of plundering other vessels on the high seas.
  • noun One who infringes the law of copyright, or publishes the work of an author without permission.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a fresh-water percoid fish of the United States (Aphredoderus Sayanus). It is of a dark olive color, speckled with blackish spots.
  • intransitive verb To play the pirate; to practice robbery on the high seas.
  • transitive verb To publish, as books or writings, without the permission of the author.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A criminal who plunders at sea; commonly attacking merchant vessels, though often pillaging port towns.
  • noun One who breaks intellectual property laws by reproducing protected works without permission
  • verb transitive, nautical To appropriate by piracy, plunder at sea.
  • verb transitive, intellectual property To create and/or sell an unauthorized copy of
  • verb transitive, intellectual property To knowingly obtain an unauthorized copy of
  • verb intransitive To engage in piracy.
  • adjective Illegaly imitated or reproduced, said of a well-known trademarked product or work subject to copyright protection and the counterfeit itself.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who uses another person's words or ideas as if they were his own
  • verb take arbitrarily or by force
  • noun a ship that is manned by pirates
  • verb copy illegally; of published material
  • noun someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pīrāta, from Greek peirātēs, from peirān, to attempt, from peira, trial; see per- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French pirate, from Latin pirata, from Ancient Greek πειρατής (peiratēs), from πεῖρα (peira, "trial, attempt, plot").

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Examples

  • Henry, for one, knows exactly where he wants to go: someplace to “meet a pirate — a really bad ­pirate, the worst pirate in the world!”

    Children’s Books: ‘Any Which Wall’ 2009

  • The latest TV spot features two men diving into a pool to retrieve a treasure chest and, in a plot line that brings new meaning to the term pirate booty, getting chased through the streets by a posse of bikini-clad women.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed BEPPI CROSARIOL 2011

  • For our purposes the term pirate applies to all ships attacked while under way, either on the high seas or in territorial waters.

    'Piracy Today: Fighting Villainy on the High Seas' 2010

  • For our purposes the term pirate applies to all ships attacked while under way, either on the high seas or in territorial waters.

    'Piracy Today: Fighting Villainy on the High Seas' 2010

  • Here is where things get tricky: as described by Han, it would seem that the word pirate has a positive connotation.

    Chuck Klosterman on Media and Culture Chuck Klosterman 2010

  • Here is where things get tricky: as described by Han, it would seem that the word pirate has a positive connotation.

    Chuck Klosterman on Media and Culture Chuck Klosterman 2010

  • For our purposes the term pirate applies to all ships attacked while under way, either on the high seas or in territorial waters.

    'Piracy Today: Fighting Villainy on the High Seas' 2010

  • Here is where things get tricky: as described by Han, it would seem that the word pirate has a positive connotation.

    Chuck Klosterman on Media and Culture Chuck Klosterman 2010

  • Here is where things get tricky: as described by Han, it would seem that the word pirate has a positive connotation.

    Pirates Chuck Klosterman 2006

  • What she was neglecting to realise was the simple fact that being a pirate is awesome and some serious swashbuckling skills would definitely help on my next voyage across the high seas.

    Hello, I’m five years old | Johnny B. Truant 2009

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