Pirates are always popular. From children's stories like Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson to classic swashbuckling films with Errol Flynn, or the recent Disney Pirates of the Caribbean movies, pirates fascinate and captivate. They also have their own way of talking, and live in a world very different from our own. That's where this dictionary comes in. Here you'll find all the common words and phrases pirates used, and the stories of many famous pirates too.
Madagascar man
A standard phrase for a pirate, particularly one operating out of Madagascar in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region, often plundering the wealth of the Indian Moguls moving through that part of the world.
main gauche
A short sword with a guard around the hand, used for both offense and defense, and in combination with a cutlass (from French, meaning left hand).
Main, the
A short form for the Spanish Main, which referred to the entirety of the Caribbean region and surrounding land, so named because it was given to the Spanish by the Pope following the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.
mainmast
The principal mast of a ship.
mainsail
The largest of the sails on a ship, typically used to give a sailing vessel the brunt of its speed, with the assistance of the smaller sails.
maroon
This was a punishment often used by pirates in which a crew member or members were found guilty of violating the Code, and then set ashore on a small spit of sand, often one that would be underwater at high tide. The term “maroon” comes from the Spanish word cimarrones, a word meaning “wild,” “untamed,” or “free” in Spanish. It was used to refer to the indigenous people found in the West Indies: “people who live in the mountains”. In time it came to mean fugitives, and was eventually corrupted to Maroons and used for runaway black slaves who had married Indian women. A Maroon community even formed in the West Indies. Separately, it was much later that maroon came to refer to a specific color, probably based on the skin tone of the black-Indian Maroons of the Caribbean. Marooned pirates were often given a musket with one ball so that they could kill themselves rather than slowly die of thirst, sunstroke, or starvation.
master of arms
Person in charge of maintaining order and discipline among the crew, security of the brig, and attending to any and all prisoners.
masthead
The highest part of a ship’s mast. The lower section of a mast. To masthead someone meant to send him to the masthead, typically as a punishment.
mate, matie
A word used to refer to a crew member or fellow pirate, most commonly in "first mate" (the most senior crew member below the captain) or in phrases like "aye, me maties".
mizzenmast
The mast aft of the mainmast of a ship; mizzen for short.
monkey's fist
A knot used to make the end of a line heavy and thick. It is created by forming concentric loops of line, one over the next, until the desired size is reached.
musket
A 75 caliber, long-barreled firearm similar to a rifle with an effective range of 100 to 150 yards.
