> as lemmas

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 435 Robbowre, on the see, pirata, vispilio.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 437 Robare, or robbar yn the see, pirata.

c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 231 (MED) A maister of a ship þat hight Dironides..was a grete robber be þe se.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xlviii. 160 They were robbers of the see.

a1625 J. Boys Remaines (1631) 175 A Pirat told Alexander the great, I am called a robber on the Sea, because I sayle in a little boate.

1674 News from Sea 1 Amongst all the rapacious violencies practised by wicked Men, there is scarce any more destructive to Society and Commerce then that of Piracy, or Robers of the Sea.

1730 W. P. tr. P. Ribadeneira Lives of Saints (ed. 2) II. 268/1 Two thousand four hundred Crowns..to repair the Damages this Robber of the Sea, had done them.

1840 W. G. Simms Hist. S. Carolina x. 100 The coast of Carolina was at length cleared of those robbers of the sea.

1918 H. G. Selfridge Romance of Commerce vi. 99 The robber of the sea, the pirate, looked upon every one as his enemy and every one's cargo of goods as his.

2000 W. M. Carpenter in W. M. Carpenter & D. G. Wiencek Asian Security Handbk. xxiii. 269 Ships..carry highly valuable and resalable cargo, making them attractive targets for the modern-day ‘robbers of the sea’.