go on the account

go on the account (third-person singular simple present goes on the account, present participle going on the account, simple past went on the account, past participle gone on the account)

1. (nautical) To become a pirate; to join a pirating or filibustering expedition.
   • 1822, Walter Scott, The Pirate:

     And as for serving under Goffe, I hope it is no new thing for gentlemen of fortune who are going on the account, to change a Captain now and then?

   • 1836, Ezra Strong, “Captain Thomas Howard”, in The Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates:

     At this island he ran away from his ship, and associating himself with some desperate fellows, they stole a canoe, and went away to the Grand Camanas, to join some others of their own stamp, who lurked thereabouts, with design to go on the account, the term for pirating.

   • 1999, Hans Turley, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 118:

     However, during peacetime, privateers and navy men were left without employment, so they often went on the account.

• See Thesaurus:pirate