Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

(Zoology) In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agelaus phoniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See Redwing.

Among slavers and pirates, a negro or Polynesian. [Cant, pejorative]

A native of any of the islands near Queensland; -- called also Kanaka. [Australia, pejorative]

to engage in the slave trade. [Colloquial]