The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification.
This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.
RFV-Sense is for definition: "A pirate". Also, if this sense is citable, is it specifically a pirate, or just any seaman? --Jeffqyzt 14:51, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
spanish -> percebe (m)
John Camden Hotten's The Slang Dictionary (1873) suggests: "possibly a corruption of binoculi; but derived by some from the barnacle (Lepas Anatifera), a kind of conical shell adhering to ships' bottoms. Hence a marine term for goggles, which they resemble in shape, and for which they are used by sailors in case of ophthalmic derangement." Equinox ◑ 21:28, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
Some of these may not support the current definition, but they’re what I found on Google Books. (I ignored quotes that were clearly metaphorical, e.g., “like barnacles”.) To be checked/added. 98.170.164.88 02:27, 24 May 2022 (UTC)