Buc`ca*neer" (&?;), n. [F. boucanier, fr. boucaner to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins, boucan a smoking place for meat or fish, gridiron for smoking: a word of American origin.] A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. [Written also bucanier.]

&fist; Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Hayti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine.

Buc`ca*neer", v. i. To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.

• (nautical) any of a group of seamen who cruised on their own account on the Spanish Main and in the Pacific in the 17th century; similar to pirates but did not prey on ships of their own nation