letters of marque /-ˈmɑrk/



 Marque n.  Law A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals.
 Letters of marque, Letters of marque and reprisal, a license or extraordinary commission granted by a government to a private person to fit out a privateer or armed ship to cruise at sea and make prize of the enemy's ships and merchandise. The ship so commissioned is sometimes called a letter of marque.

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 Pri·va·teer n.
 1. An armed private vessel which bears the commission of the sovereign power to cruise against the enemy. See Letters of marque, under Marque.
 2. The commander of a privateer.
    Kidd soon threw off the character of a privateer and became a pirate.   --Macaulay.


 letters of marque
      n : a license to a private citizen to seize property of another
          nation [syn: letter of marque, {letter of mark and
          reprisal]