All 5 Uses of
desperado
in
Moby Dick
- There is nothing like the perils of whaling to breed this free and easy sort of genial, desperado philosophy; and with it I now regarded this whole voyage of the Pequod, and the great White Whale its object.†
Chpt 49-51 *
- In truth, well nigh the whole of this passage being attended by very prosperous breezes, the Town-Ho had all but certainly arrived in perfect safety at her port without the occurrence of the least fatality, had it not been for the brutal overbearing of Radney, the mate, a Vineyarder, and the bitterly provoked vengeance of Steelkilt, a Lakeman and desperado from Buffalo.†
Chpt 52-54
- But Steelkilt and his desperadoes were too much for them all; they succeeded in gaining the forecastle deck, where, hastily slewing about three or four large casks in a line with the windlass, these sea-Parisians entrenched themselves behind the barricade.†
Chpt 52-54desperadoes = bold outlawsunconventional spelling: This is a British spelling. Americans use desperados.
- Like desperadoes they tugged and they strained, till the welcome cry was heard—"Stand up, Tashtego!†
Chpt 61-63
- A whale wounded (as we afterwards learned) in this part, but not effectually, as it seemed, had broken away from the boat, carrying along with him half of the harpoon line; and in the extraordinary agony of the wound, he was now dashing among the revolving circles like the lone mounted desperado Arnold, at the battle of Saratoga, carrying dismay wherever he went.†
Chpt 85-87
Definition:
a bold outlaw -- especially from the American old west