an armed, privately owned vessel commissioned for war service by a government
2. Also called: privateersman
a commander or member of the crew of a privateer
3.
a competitor, esp in motor racing, who is privately financed rather than sponsored by a manufacturer
verb(intransitive)
4.
to serve as a privateer
privateersman in American English
(ˌpraivəˈtɪərzmən)
nounWord forms: plural-men
an officer or sailor of a privateer
Word origin
[1770–80, Amer.;privateer + 's1 + -man]This word is first recorded in the period 1770–80. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: colonial, embed, extra, parka, red flag-man is a combining form, used in the formation of compound words indicating a man ofa certain type or with a certain job. Other words that use the affix -man include: corpsman, freshman, liveryman, midshipman, ombudsman