Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
waterman .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay are called watermen because they harvest whatever they can instead of a single species.
San Antonio Business News - Local San Antonio News | The San Antonio Business Journal 2010
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In 1865 it was rowed by a team of eight 'watermen', ferrying passengers around the River Derwent, taking families on picnics and ferrying dignitaries on Regatta Day.
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• A 1593 Petition from the union of Thames 'watermen' bewailing the loss of business when playhouses on the Southbank were closed due to plague
Media Newswire 2009
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Even before the official word came down, however, both event surfers and local "watermen" were kicking and paddling their way into the surf, and zipping down wave faces about 1,000 feet from shore.
NYT > Home Page 2009
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Sprung from a little knot of (we wish we could say "_jolly young_," though truth compels us to proclaim) far from jolly, and decidedly old, "watermen," the _above-bridge navy_, whose shattered and unfrequented wherries were always "in want of a fare," may now boast of covering the bosom of the Thames with its fleet of steamers; thus, as it were, bringing the substantial piers of London Bridge within a stone's throw -- if we may be allowed to pitch it so remarkably strong -- of the once remote regions of the
Punch, or the London Charivari. Volume 1, July 31, 1841 Various
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"watermen," if you prefer it, but not unfrequently they ship for a long voyage; and many vessels in the African trade are accustomed, when short of hands, to make up their crew from among these Kroomen.
Ran Away to Sea Mayne Reid 1850
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"watermen" were kicking and paddling their way into the surf, and zipping down wave faces about 1,000 feet from shore.
NYT > Home Page 2009
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"watermen" were kicking and paddling their way into the surf, and zipping down wave faces about 1,000 feet from shore.
NYT > Home Page 2009
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The watermen of the Mississippi delta will tell you that if you wish to gauge the magnitude of a vessel that has passed by, all you have to do is measure the size of the waves the vessel has left in its wake.
Manifesting Michelangelo Joseph Pierce Farrell 2011
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We came foaming down abreast of the skiff, so close that we could hear above the wind the voices of Big Alec and his mate as they shouted at us with all the scorn that professional watermen feel for amateurs, especially when amateurs are making fools of themselves.
hernesheir commented on the word watermen
Watermen, or wherrymen were originally river workers who ferried passengers and goods across or along rivers in the city centers of Britain and English colonies. They formed guilds. Fishers and crabbers in the Chesapeake Bay region of the US still call themselves watermen.
cf. early quotations listed under water-man.
September 20, 2009
john commented on the word watermen
“Even before the official word came down, however, both event surfers and local “watermen” were kicking and paddling their way into the surf, and zipping down wave faces about 1,000 feet from shore.”
The New York Times, Bruising Surf at a Rare Big-Wave Event in Hawaii, by Jesse McKinley, December 8, 2009
December 13, 2009