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maraud

 - 3 dictionary results

ma⋅raud

  [muh-rawd]
Use maraud in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to roam or go around in quest of plunder; make a raid for booty: Freebooters were marauding all across the territory.
–verb (used with object)
2. to raid for plunder (often used passively): At the war's end the country had been marauded by returning bands of soldiers.
–noun
3. Archaic. the act of marauding.
Origin:
1705–15; < F marauder, deriv. of maraud rogue, vagabond, MF, perh. identical with dial. maraud tomcat, of expressive orig.

Related forms:
ma⋅raud⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1, 2. invade, attack; ravage, harry.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To maraud
ma·raud   (mə-rôd')   
v.   ma·raud·ed, ma·raud·ing, ma·rauds

v.   intr.
To rove and raid in search of plunder.
v.   tr.
To raid or pillage for spoils.

[French marauder, from maraud, tomcat, vagabond.]
ma·raud'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

maraud 
1698 (implied in marauder), from Fr. marauder, from M.Fr. maraud "rascal," probably from Fr. dial. maraud "tomcat," echoic of its cry. A word popularized during the Thirty Years War (cf. Sp. merodear, Ger. marodiren "to maraud," marodebruder "straggler, deserter") by punning assoc. with Count Mérode, imperialist general, whose troops were notoriously ill-disciplined.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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