pi|ra|cy

pi|ra|cy «PY ruh see», noun, plural -cies.

1. robbery on the sea.

2. Figurative. a) the act of publishing or using a book, play, invention, musical composition, or the like, without permission. b) the appropriation or use of anything that belongs to another or that has been assigned to the use of another: »

drug piracy, piracy of the airwaves.

╂[< Medieval Latin piratia, earlier pirata < unrecorded Medieval Greek peirateia < Greek peirāt pirate]