The Pirate Dictionary

by Terry Breverton

Reading through these words and phrases is an abbreviated trip through history, with lists of major naval mutinies, a summary of the slave trade, and even jokes. This dictionary is written to be entertaining as well as informative, to give a flavor of the interesting times from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries when pirates controlled many sea lanes. It also contains a treasure trove of factual information about life aboard the ship, important pirate haunts, and technical terms.

Genres: Pirates, Reference, History, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2004

Reviews

[Marc Maxmeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems like "reading the dictionary" would be boring - but this book is filled with excellent context setting bits of knowledge. You can tell the author loves pirates and has also read many authoritative books on naval stuff in detail. This is great for me, since the original sources are centuries old and hard to understand.

I used this to provide inspiration for my fiction writing. I just wish there was a book like this about underground caving, mining, or ancient civilizations and their lore.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for Talk Like A Pirate Day - has loads of great definitions and doesn't take itself too seriously. Not a scholarly work, though. A reference rather than a read - I thumb through it and find a word or two here and there. It also has a section on sea shanties and pirate jokes (most of which can't be told to children.)

[Rodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a really exhaustive pirate dictionary, and I found it.

So many of the words we use: "spick and span," "fly by night," and "footloose" all originated from pirates.

Yo ho ho.

[Debs Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is interesting but it didn't work as well as I'd like as a reference. For me, it would serve as a better reference if it had categories. The information was good and it had a large collection of words. I read it, highlighted words I thought were useful and then sat down with my writing and tried to figure out where I could use the words. That wasn't very efficient. I would prefer if it were more of a translator where I could look up a word and find a pirate alternative.

[Trevor Oakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arrr! Thanks be to ye pirate lexicographers!

[Jay DeVine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, interesting reference book!

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good pirate reference.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this book is just perfect!