Pirate Dictionary

[Admin]

A

Aft – The back of the ship.

Ahoy! – ‘Hello’

Arr – Yes/That’s great/I agree

Aye – ‘Yes, definitely.’

Aye Aye – ‘Of course, I’ll do that now.’

B

Barbary Coast – Mediterranean coast off of North Africa.

Be – Use instead of ‘am’, ‘are’ or ‘is’.

Bilboes – Leg irons attached to the deck of a ship.

Bilge – The dirtiest, smelliest and lowest part of a ship.

Bilge rat – A rat that lives in the dirtiest, smelliest and lowest part of a ship. This is not a nice name to call somebody.

Black Spotted – A person/animal that has had a curse put on them.

Blimey – ‘Wow.’

Booty – Riches that have usually been stolen.

Bounty – A reward, usually paid by the Government for the capture of a criminal.

Buccanneer – Pirates, usually from Hispaniola, who attacked Spanish ships in the Caribbean.

Bucko – Friend

C

Careen – To clean the hull of a ship.

Cat’o’nine tails – A whip made up of nine knotted ropes and used as punishment.

Convoy – A group of ships traveling together.

Corsair – Pirates in the Mediterranean.

Crow’s Nest – A lookout point at the top of the highest mast of a ship.

Cutlass – A curved sword, often used by sailors.

D

Davy Jones Locker – The bottom of the ocean.

Deck – The highest floor on a ship.

Deckhand – A person working on a ship, sometimes shortened to ‘hand’.

Dubloon – An old Spainish gold coin.

F

Fair Winds – ‘Good Luck.’

Flog – To whip.

Fore – Short for ‘forward’.

G

Galleon – A large, squarish ship used in war or to carry cargo.

Gangway – ‘Clear a path.’

Grog – Rum mixed with water or any kind of alcohol.

Grub – Food

H

Hands – Crewmen.

Haven – A safe place.

Heave to – To change the direction of the ship so it is facing forwards into the wind.

Hold – The space in a ship where cargo or prisoners were kept.

Hornpipe – A dance or a single reeded musical instrument.

Hornswaggle – To cheat.

Hornswaggler – A person who cheats.

Hulk – The old, dismantled body of a ship, sometimes used as prisons.

Hull – The body of a ship, not including the masts and rigging.

J

Jack Tar – Sailor

Jolly Roger – The pirate flag - a white skull and crossbones on a black background.

K

Keel – The main framework of a ship that runs from the front to the back at the bottom of the ship.

Keelhaul – To pull somebody under the keel of a ship. Done by using ropes and often as a form of punishment.

L

Lad – Young man.

Land ahoy! – ‘I see land.’

Land lubber or lubber – A person who likes being on land, often used as an insult.

Lass – Young woman.

Leg Irons – Wide rings of metal that were attached to each other and fastened around prisoner’s ankles.

Loot – Gold and riches usually stolen.

Lubber or land lubber – A person who likes being on land, often used as an insult.

M

Marooned – Left alone, usually on a deserted island.

Mast – The upright pole on a ship that the sails and ropes are attached to.

Mate or Matey – Friend

Me – Used instead of ‘my’.

Me beauty – How you would address a pretty lady or something important to you.

Me hearties – Friends

Merchant Ship – A ship carrying cargo to be sold.

Mutiny – When a ship’s crew refuse to follow the captain’s orders.

N

New World - America

P

Peg leg – An artificial leg, usually wooden.

Pieces of Eight – An old Spanish silver coin.

Pirate – A ‘robber of the sea’.

Plunder – To steal.

Poop deck – The floor that is also the roof of a cabin built on the upper deck.

Poop cabin – A room built on the top deck of a ship, often the Captain’s.

Port – The left side when facing the ship’s pointy end, also a strong alcoholic drink, and the area of land next to where ships are left when the pirates go ashore.

Privateer – English, French or Dutch sailors allowed by their Government to attack enemy ships.

Prow – The pointy end of a ship.

Q

Quartermaster – The sailor second-in-charge to the Captain.

R

Rigging – The ropes, mast and sails on a ship.

S

Salt or Old Salt – Somebody who has been a sailor for a long time.

Sea dog – Somebody who has been a sailor for a long time.

Scurvy – A disease many sailors got because they didn’t eat enough vitamin C.

Scuttle – To make a hole in a ship’s hull or to sink the ship.

Shanty – A seafaring song.

Shipshape – To be neat and tidy.

Shiver me timbers – ‘What a surprise.’

Sink me – ‘What a surprise.’

Smartly – Quickly

Starboard – The right side of the ship (if you are facing the pointed end).

Swab – To clean something or a name for somebody you don’t like very much.

Swag – Gold and riches.

T

To be three sheets to the wind – To have drunk too much alcohol.

Titivate – To clean up and make neat.

W

Walk the plank – To be forced to walk along and off the end of a plank that has been placed over the side of a ship.

Weevil – A kind of beetle that can eat your food before you do.

Weigh anchor – To lift the anchor and be ready to sail.

Y

Ye – Used instead of ‘you’.

Yer – Used instead of ‘your’.

[minion]

brilliant! great resource.

[Wids]

It may also be worth mentioning that "ye" was a commonly used Old English word back in medieval times, and it was the plural form of "you" (that is, the Second Person Plural pronoun). Compare "You ruffian" to "Ye ruffians," for an example.

We should also consider that yesteryear's pirates, like other sorts of criminals and scoundrels from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, typically came from undereducated, Lower Class backgrounds. And as we've seen in many a redneck, hillbilly or Cockney, the corruption of any given language and deviation from the language's purest form tend to begin among the uneducated or undereducated sections of any given society. Hence, why pirates tended to put their own twists on the spoken language. Being away at sea--and separated from the whole of society--for months at a time surely couldn't have helped matters.

Pirate captains tended to be the exception; anyone who was either wealthy enough to commission his own ship or prestigious enough to earn that commission from wealthy benefactors, regardless of whatever that ship's original purpose may have been (re: the origin of Captain William Kidd and the Adventure Galley), almost certainly came from a higher social class than the salts and sea dogs he hired to man that ship for high seas piracy. So while the pirate crews tended to be crass, crude and ill-mannered, their captains tended to be more refined, debonair and eloquent. Even the dreaded and savage pirate captain Blackbeard exhibited signs of an extensive education in his written correspondence and his shrewd businessman's practices.

At some time before the modern age, "ye" got phased out and "you" became the pronoun for both Second Person Singular and Second Person Plural. So while you don't necessarily have to be a pirate to say "ye," it certainly doesn't hurt.

[Wids]

Avast - (Command verb) Stop, cease. "Avast heaving!" "Avast the boarding and veer hard to starboard!"

Avast! - "Stop!" "Halt!" "Hold it right there!"

Come About - To reverse a vessel's heading; to execute a 180-degree turn.

Fill Sails - To open or distend sails in order to give the vessel headway.

Halyard - A line used to strike or fill a sail.

Hoist Sails - Same as "Fill Sails"; to open or distend sails in order to give the vessel headway.

In Irons - Unable to move, still, dead in the water. Typically used to describe vessels at sea.

Kedge - A small, secondary anchor used for warping a vessel, typically deployed to unground a vessel which has run aground or to prevent the incoming tide from pushing a grounded vessel further inshore.

Leeward - The side or quarter of a vessel facing downwind.

Running - Sailing with the wind.

Sheet - A line which controls a sail, fastened to one of a sail's corners and used for adjusting the sail's direction. The "Three sheets to the wind" expression is derived from the loss of sail control (and, therefore, control of the ship) which follows the snapping or accidental release of three sheets.

Shroud - Rigging which holds a mast upright from either side.

Splice the mainbrace - Have a drink

Stay - Rigging which holds a mast upright from fore and aft.

Strike Sails - To close or collapse sails in order to slow or stop a vessel.

Tacking - Turning into or sailing against the wind.

Warp (n.) - A towline used in warping a vessel.

Warp (v.) - To move a vessel by hauling on a line fastened to a piling, anchor or pier.

Windward - The side or quarter of a vessel facing against the wind.


Is it too late to add these to the Pirate Dictionary?

[tsynr]

Jibe - similar to tacking, except by turning with the wind instead of into it. Can cause the boom to swing wildly. Jibe ho, head low!

[Wids]

That too.