galleon
pronunciation
How to pronounce galleon in British English:
UK [ˈgæliən]
How to pronounce galleon in American English:
US [ˈɡæliən, ˈɡæljən]
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- Noun:
- a large square-rigged sailing ship with three or more masts; used by the Spanish for commerce and war from the 15th to 18th centuries
Word Origin
- galleon (n.)
- kind of large ship, 1520s, from French galion "armed ship of burden," and directly from Spanish galeón "galleon, armed merchant ship," augmentative of galea, from Byzantine Greek galea "galley" (see galley) + augmentative suffix -on. Developed 15c.-16c., it was shorter, broader, and with a higher stern superstructure than the galley. In English use, especially of Spanish royal treasure-ships or the government warships that escorted private merchant ships in the South American trade. GALLEON. The accepted term for the type of ship which the Spaniards used in 1588; that is, an armed merchantman of exceptional quality, combining the strength of the mediaeval trader with some of the finer lines and fighting features of the GALLEY. [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages," 1943] Italian agumented form of galea, galeaza, led to a different 16c. ship-name in English, galliass (1540s).
Example
- 1. Their ties were fodder for bragging rights between the galleon boss and ms chiesi .
- 2. The trial began in new york of raj rajaratnam , the founder of galleon , a hedge fund .
- 3. Fear about the future of his and galleon 's investments triggered a selloff monday .
- 4. The regulators are also employing tools typically used to fight drugs and gang violence : investigators used wiretaps for the first time in the galleon case .
- 5. The biggest case is against hedge-fund giant raj rajaratnam , who ran galleon group and is now on trial in lower manhattan .