Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Robbery; plunder; pillage.
  • Acting as a freebooter; engaged in or occupied with plunder.

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

  • noun Robbery; plunder; a pillaging.
  • adjective Acting the freebooter; practicing freebootery; robbing.

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

  • noun Piracy or plundering
  • adjective Engaged in piracy or plunder

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From freebooter ("a type of pirate").

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Examples

  • The relics of the old forest are few and scattered, but as to the bold outlaw who once held a kind of freebooting sway over it, there is scarce a hill or dale, a cliff or cavern, a well or fountain, in this part of the country, that is not connected with his memory.

    Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey Washington Irving 1821

  • Before that, for almost a century, the City was in its freebooting pomp, dispensing capital and credit to all quarters of the globe and becoming the greatest international financial centre the world had seen.

    Who can deliver the cultural Big Bang that the City needs? | David Kynaston 2011

  • Britain's freebooting redtops had massive circulations and massive amounts of cash; they could swoop down on ordinary people and turn them into stars for a short time, without these people anticipating the backlash of intrusion and spite heading their way.

    Tabloid – review 2011

  • William the Conqueror and Queen Elizabeth gave huge grants of land in England and Ireland to their freebooting military commanders.

    In the Realm of Peers 2010

  • We still practice a version of freebooting, we still have our own version of extraterritoriality, and we do it all with impunity.

    Tom Engelhardt: Missing Word, Missing World 2009

  • Today, the U.S. government decries piracy, but doesn't do anything to prevent the maritime poaching of fishing reserves that helped push pirates from their jobs into risky but lucrative careers in freebooting.

    John Feffer: Monsters vs. Aliens 2009

  • In response to Lucas 'freebooting, Curran demanded that USAID block him from participating in IRI's Haiti program.

    Max Blumenthal: Uncovering A US-Planned Coup In Haiti: The Original Version 2008

  • Forrester had crossed the line between freebooting and piracy, and the French went after him.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • Forrester had crossed the line between freebooting and piracy, and the French went after him.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • The new president is better seen as a classic American mix of freebooting immigrant and poor but educated mother, committed to a college education for her son.

    Simon Jenkins: All the Clichés About Colour Obscure the Real Challenges Awaiting Obama 2008

Comments

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  • “Freebooting” is the practice of downloading copyrighted content from a media-hosting website and re-uploading it without the creator’s permission, typically in order to accumulate a large following or for commercial profit through advertising revenue. The practice should not be confused with “mirroring,” or the recovery of censored or lost media content using a similar method for non-commercial and archival purposes.

    --http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/freebooting

    May 15, 2015