- pi´rate|like´
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–n.1. a person who attacks and robs ships; robber on the seas; buccaneer; freebooter: »
Blackbeard became one of the most feared pirates operating in the West Indies (Willard H. Bonner).
2. a ship used by pirates: »Squadrons of pirates hung yet about the smaller islands (James A. Froude).
3. anyone who roves about in quest of plunder; marauder: »Pirates of the desert... (Washington Irving).
4. Figurative. a person, company, or organization that appropriates or uses something to which another has the exclusive rights: »A law was passed to squash the pirates, whose offshore transmissions were unauthorized (T. J. Hickey).
–v.i.to be a pirate or commit an act of piracy.–v.t.1. to commit piracy upon; plunder as a pirate.2. to rob; plunder.3. Figurative. a) to publish or use without the author's permission: »to pirate a book.
b) to appropriate or use (something, the exclusive rights to which have been assigned to another): »to pirate a wave-length. Rather than investing millions of dollars in research, development and testing, they…pirate drugs from the West (Science News Letter).
–adj.that engage in piracy: »a pirate radio station. Pirate syndicates are already forming to try to exploit the game on the West Coast (Alistair Cooke).
╂[< Latin pīrata < Greek peirāt< peirân to attack; (originally) to try, make a hostile attempt on]
–pi´rate|like´, adjective.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.