Aaarrr, me hearties! Every day is Talk Like a Pirate Day when you have our handy Pirate glossaaarrry!

Addled — Insane, foolish or mad.

Aft — Short for “after.” The rear of the ship.

Ahoy — “Hi there!”

Avast! — “Hey you!” or “Who goes there?”

Begad! — By God!

Belay — Stop that. “Belay that order!” would mean “Don’t do that thing you were just told to do.”

Bilge! — Nonsense. The bilges of a ship are inside the hull along the keel. They fill with smelly bilgewater — or just “bilge.”

Bilge-sucking — Not a nice thing to call someone, or a nice thing to do!

Black Spot — To sentence to death, to warn someone he is marked for death. You would place one of these. Not to be confused with AR markers!

Blimey! — Gosh! Gee!

Booty — Ill-gotten gains.

Bosun — Boatswain; a petty officer.

Bowsprit — A pole (or spar) extending forward from the vessel’s prow.

Briny Deep — The deep blue sea.

Buccaneer — Pirates who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.

Bucko — Friend.

Cap’n — Short for “captain.”

Cat o’nine tails, or just “cat” — a type of multi-tailed whipping device that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment.

Chandler, or ship-chandler — A dealer in special supplies or equipment for ships.

Chase — The ship being pursued. “The chase is making full sail, sir” = “The ship we’re after is going as fast as she can.”

Crow’s nest — A structure in the upper part of the mainmast of a ship or structure, that is used as a lookout point.

Cutlass — A short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard.

Davy Jones’ locker — The bottom of the sea.

Dead men tell no tales — Standard pirate excuse for leaving no survivors.

Doubloon — A two-escudo or 32-reales gold coin, weighing 6.77 grams (0.218 troy ounces).

Gangway! — “Get out of my way!”

Grog — The word originally referred to a drink made with water or “small beer” (a weak beer) and rum.

Grub — Food.

Gun — A cannon.

Fore — Towards the front end of the ship.

Flogging — Punishment by caning, or by whipping with the cat.

Hands — The crew of a ship; sailors.

Jack Ketch — an English executioner employed by King Charles II and thereafter to mean alternately, the name of every hangman after Ketch, to hide their identity; a proverbial name for death or, sometimes, Satan; or as a euphemism for the gallows.

Jolly Roger — the name given to any of various flags flown to identify a ship’s crew as pirates. The flag most usually identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, being a flag consisting of a skull above two tibiae set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. This design was used by several pirates, including Captains Edward England and John Taylor.

Keelhaul — Tto drag along the keel as a form of corporal punishment meted out to sailors at sea. The sailor was tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship’s keel to the other side.

Kiss the gunner’s daughter — An expression derived from the British naval tradition of bending a young sailor over a ship’s gun to suffer a severe spanking.

Landlubber or just lubber — A non-sailor.

Line — A rope in use as part of the ship’s rigging, or as a towing line. When a rope is just coiled up on deck, not yet being used for anything, it’s OK to call it a rope.

Lookout — Someone posted to keep watch on the horizon for other ships or signs of land.

Marooning — Leaving someone behind on purpose in an uninhabited island as a penalty for crewmen, or for captains at the hands of a crew. Generally, a marooned man was set on a deserted island, often no more than a sand bar at low tide. He would be given some food, a container of water, and a loaded pistol so he could commit suicide if he desired. The outcome of marooning was usually fatal.

Me hearties — Typical way for a pirate leader to address his crew.

Matey — A piratey way to address someone in a cheerful, if not necessarily friendly, fashion.

No quarter! — No surrender. The term originates from an order by the commander of a victorious army that they “will not quarter (house)” captured enemy soldiers. Therefore, none can be taken prisoner and all enemy combatants must be killed

Piece of eight — A Spanish silver coin worth one peso or 8 reales. It was sometimes literally cut into eight pieces, each worth one real.

Pillage — To raid, rob, and sack a target ashore.

Poop deck — A deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the aft (rear) part of the superstructure of a ship.

Port — The left side of the ship when you are facing toward her prow.

Poxy — Diseased. Used as an insult.

Prow — The “nose” of the ship.

Reef — (1) An underwater obstruction of rock or coral which can tear the bottom out of a ship. (2) To reef sails is to shorten them, tying them partially up, either to slow the ship or to keep a strong wind from putting too much strain on the masts.

Rum (noun) — Traditional pirate drink.

Rum (adjective) — Strange or odd. A “rum fellow” is a peculiar person.

Sail ho! — “I see a ship!” The sail, of course, is the first part of a ship visible over the horizon.

Salt, old salt — An experienced seaman.

Scuppers — An opening in the side walls of an open-air structure, for purposes of draining water. he verb “to scupper” means to overwhelm or destroy.

Scurvy — (1) A disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C; or a derogatory adjective suitable for use in a loud voice, as in “Ye scurvy dogs!”

Sea dog — An experienced seaman.

Shanty — A sea song.

Shipshape — Well-organized, under control, finished.

Shiver me timbers! — An expression of surprise or strong emotion.

Smartly — Quickly. “Smartly there, men!” or “Hurry up!”

Splice the mainbrace — an order given aboard ships to issue the crew with a drink. Originally an order for one of the most difficult emergency repair jobs aboard a sailing ship, it became a euphemism for authorized celebratory drinking afterward, and then the name of an order to grant the crew an extra ration of rum or grog.

Spyglass — A telescope.

Starboard — The right side of the ship when you are facing toward her prow.

Swab — To clean something. Being put to “swabbing the decks” would be a low-level punishment for a disobedient pirate. It also refers to a low-ranking sailor.

Swag — Loot.

Walk the plank — A form of execution practised by pirates, mutineers and other rogue seafarers. The victim was forced to walk off the end of a wooden plank or beam extended over the side of a ship, falling into the water to drown, sometimes with bound hands or weighed down, often into the vicinity of sharks (which would often follow ships).

Weigh anchor — To haul the anchor up; more generally, to leave port.

Wench — Generally a term for a lower class woman and/or promiscuous woman, however a pirate might consider all women wenches.