corsair

Borrowed from French corsaire, from Medieval Latin cursārius (“pirate”), from Latin cursus (“course, a running; plunder, hostile inroad”). Doublet of courser and hussar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːɹsɛəɹ/

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corsair (plural corsairs)

1. A French privateer, especially from the port of Saint-Malo.
2. A privateer or pirate in general.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pirate

   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 34.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     "If I had been born a corsair or a pirate, a brigand, genteel highwayman or patriot―and they're the same thing," thought Mr. Tappertit, musing among the nine-pins, "I should have been all right. But to drag out a ^[sic] ignoble existence unbeknown to mankind in general―patience! I will be famous yet."

3. The ship of privateers or pirates, especially of French nationality.
4. A nocturnal assassin bug of the genus Rasahus, found in the southern USA.
5. A Californian market fish (Sebastes rosaceus).

• Turkish corsair

• corsair on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Assassin bug on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Peiratinae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Reduviidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons