Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Buccaneer \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}.]

   Note: 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.