Letter of Marque
Preserved but no longer current.
A commission authorizing a privateer to make reprisals on a hostile nation till satisfaction for injury has been duly made. Marque is from Provencal marcar, Med. Lat. mar car et to seize as a pledge.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Letter of Marque” mean?
A commission authorizing a privateer to make reprisals on a hostile nation till satisfaction for injury has been duly made. Marque is from Provencal marcar, Med. Lat. mar car et to seize as a pledge.
Is “Letter of Marque” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.