noun.
Seizure.
noun.
Originally, a commission granted by the supreme authority of a state to a subject, empowering him to enter an enemy's territory and capture the goods or persons of the enemy in return for goods or persons taken by him.
noun.
In present usage, a license or extraordinary commission granted by a sovereign or the supreme power of a state to its citizens to make reprisals at sea on the subjects of another, under pretense of indemnification for injuries received—that is, a license to engage in privateering. Letters of marque were abolished among European nations by the treaty of Paris of 1856. The United States declined to accede to this agreement, but proposed that all innocent private property at sea be exempt from seizure by public armed vessels in time of war.
noun.
Hence— A private vessel commissioned to attack and capture the vessels of an enemy; a privateer.