[a. 15th c. F. brigandage, f. brigand; see prec. and -AGE.]
1. The practice of brigands; highway-robbery, freebooting, pillage; † concr. an incursion, depredation by brigands (obs.).
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXVIII. xlv. 1011 e. A privat brigandage and robberie.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, II. v. 318. The Corsairs of Barbary, have extended their Brigandages even upon the Coasts of Provence.
1826. Scott, Quentin D., i. The brigandage of the Free Companies.
1884. Mahaffy, in Contemp. Rev., XLVI. 96. Brigandage … was too often the outcome of shocking tyranny and injustice.
2. Brigands collectively.
1875. Merivale, Gen. Hist. Rome, i. (1877), 4. A stronghold for the unsettled brigandage of the country round.
