» Piracy - A Dictionary of the English Language - Samuel Johnson

Piracy

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 1506

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 1506

Píracy. n.s. [πειρατεία; piratica, Lat. piraterie, Fr. from pirate.] The act or practice of robbing on the sea.

Our gallants, in their fresh gale of fortune, began to skum the seas with their piracies. Carew's Survey of Cornwall.

Now shall the ocean, as thy Thames, be free,
From both those fates of storms and piracy. Waller.

Fame swifter than your winged navy flies,
Sounding your name, and telling dreadful news
To all that piracy and rapine use. Waller.

His pretence for making war upon his neighbours was their piracies; though he practised the same trade. Arbuthnot.

Sources: Arbuthnot, John (227) · Carew, Thomas (36) · Waller, Edmund (63)

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Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Piracy." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Edited by Brandi Besalke. Last modified: November 11, 2012. https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/piracy/.

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