Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A warrant officer or petty officer in charge of a ship's rigging, anchors, cables, and deck crew.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A subordinate officer of a ship, who has charge of the rigging, anchors, cables, and cordage.
- noun A jäger or skua; any bird of the genus Lestris or Stercorarius.
- noun A name of birds of the genus Phaëthon. See
tropic-bird .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) An officer who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, colors, anchors, cables, cordage, etc., of a ship, and who also summons the crew, and performs other duties.
- noun The jager gull.
- noun The tropic bird.
- noun an assistant of the boatswain.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical The
officer (orwarrant officer ) in charge ofsails ,rigging ,anchors ,cables etc. and allwork ondeck of asailing ship . - noun nautical The
petty officer of amerchant ship whocontrols the work of otherseamen . - noun A kind of gull, the
jaeger . - noun The
tropicbird .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Having completed my inspection of the decks, and satisfied myself that everything was all right, I called the boatswain aft to take temporary charge, and then entered the drawing-room, intending to pass through it to the door of Mrs Vansittart's cabin, to make my report.
The First Mate The Story of a Strange Cruise Harry Collingwood 1886
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I thought a moment, and then I called the boatswain's mate to pipe _all hands to bathe_.
Peter Simple Frederick Marryat 1820
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I called the boatswain's mate to _pipe all hands to bathe_.
Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 Frederick Marryat 1820
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I was "conning" the schooner when this insane scheme was broached, and fearing that the captain might adopt it, I leaped on the hatch, after calling the boatswain to my place, and assured the crew that if they severed the sail, we would lose command of the vessel, so that with impaired headway, the next wave that struck her would show her keel to the skies and her dock to the fishes.
Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver Theodore Canot
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` ` Push off the bow there! '' called the boatswain at the wheel.
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The boatswain was a noisy, surly fellow, and on several occasions the captain had words with him about his disrespectful behaviour.
The Pirates' Who's Who Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers Philip Gosse 1919
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He called the boatswain and went to the store-room.
The Best Short Stories of 1917 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story Various 1915
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"Won't you come down here, Mr.. Waters?" called the boatswain, looking up so suddenly that Mr. Travers's head bumped painfully against the side of the window.
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The tropic-bird, often called the boatswain, or phaëton, also climbs to great heights, and is seldom found out of these latitudes.
White Shadows in the South Seas Frederick O'Brien 1900
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But he did not come: he was having a very serious talk with the Chinese admiral; at daybreak, however, the gig was reported in sight: Sharpe told one of the midshipmen to call the boatswain and man the side.
Great Sea Stories Various 1897
hernesheir commented on the word boatswain
It's a bird.
January 10, 2012