Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of reduvioid bugs, typical of a subfamily Piratinæ, having the third joint of the hind tarsi as long as the first and second joints together, and that part of the head which bears the ocelli slightly elevated.

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

  • noun Plural form of pirate.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pirates.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Profoundly Incredulous and Reconditely Acronymic Title Endowment Specialist.

    November 9, 2008

  • The German pirate party’s (“Piratenpartei�?) color is orange.

    September 15, 2009

  • Arr! Only 4 more days till " Talk Like a Pirate Day ", maties!

    September 16, 2009

  • ARR! It's on my list!

    September 16, 2009

  • I wish someone would start a talk like the Muppets' Swedish Chef day. Bork bork bork!

    September 16, 2009

  • I love that guy.

    September 16, 2009

  • Yo, ho, ho...

    September 16, 2009

  • "Pilates" in Asia, where the American /r/ is thought to be somewhat problematic to pronounce. Which begs the question: Is there an Int'l Pilates Day? Some would say "if not, there should be".

    September 17, 2009

  • This is your captain speaking. We will shortly reach our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. At which point, you should all feel free to 'talk like a pilot'. But please keep your seatbelts fastened as you do so, folks - you never know when we might hit some unexpected turbulence, maties!

    September 17, 2009

  • American 'r' is problematic for almost everyone (being unique or at any rate extremely rare in world phonology). It's just that, say, French and German speakers replace it with their 'r', which sounds to our ears more r-like than, say, the Japanese 'r'.

    September 17, 2009

  • Talk Like a Pirate Day might actually be fun.

    On a normal day:

    Someone: “C’mon, talk like a pirate, pal!�?

    Somebody: “No.�?

    On a September 19:

    Someone: “C’mon, talk like a pirate, pal!�?

    Somebody: “I’m disinclined to acquiesce.�?

    (My reaction about the r-sounds somehow ended up on devoicing.)

    September 17, 2009

  • "Yet if royal edicts, Spanish vigilance, and cochineal biology combined to make it almost impossible for foreigners to steal cochineal from Mexico, the fact remained that at some point the processed dyestuff had to be shipped across the Atlantic to Seville. Even the most experienced Spanish captains regarded this voyage with some trepidation, for they knew that their enemies might attack at any moment--'Pirats,' as the poet-adventurer John Donne described them, 'which doe know/That there come weak ships fraught with Cutchannel,/The men board them.'"

    Bold and cunning, these pirates were determined to smash the Spanish monopoly and seize the transatlantic cochineal trade for themselves."

    Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire (New York: Harper Collins, 2005), 109.

    See also comment on Sea Beggars.

    October 5, 2017