Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A warrant officer or petty officer in charge of a ship's rigging, anchors, cables, and deck crew.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A subordinate officer of a ship, who has charge of the rigging, anchors, cables, and cordage. It is his duty also to summon the crew for any evolution, and to assist the executive officer in the necessary business of the ship. His station is always on the forecastle, and a silver call or whistle is the badge of his office.
- n. A jäger or skua; any bird of the genus Lestris or Stercorarius.
- n. A name of birds of the genus Phaëthon. See tropic-bird.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship.
- n. nautical The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.
- n. A kind of gull, the jaeger.
- n. The tropicbird.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (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.
- n. The jager gull.
- n. The tropic bird.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen
Etymologies
- boat + swain (“boy, servant”) (Wiktionary)
- Middle English botswein : bot, boat; see boat + swein, mate; see swain. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“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.”
“I thought a moment, and then I called the boatswain's mate to pipe _all hands to bathe_.”
“I called the boatswain's mate to _pipe all hands to bathe_.”
“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.”
“` ` Push off the bow there! '' called the boatswain at the wheel.”
“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
“He called the boatswain and went to the store-room.”
The Best Short Stories of 1917 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story
“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.”
“The tropic-bird, often called the boatswain, or phaëton, also climbs to great heights, and is seldom found out of these latitudes.”
“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.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘boatswain’.
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
bywoner, byssus, byssiferous, byssaceous, byrnie, butyric, butyraceous, buttery, buteonine, bunting, burdet, broma and 582 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 198 more...
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boat phrases/words
how boat is used
boat basin, boat bed, boat bedding, boat-bone, boat bridge, boat chain, boat chock, boat cloak, boat club, boat cover, boat cradle, boat crew and 140 more...
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with ...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 79 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Scriptie: Master and Commander
Nice ambient words from the movie. (With apologies to Patrick O'Brian.) Aaaah, life at sea...aboard a hulk of the British navy in 1805...
surprise, acheron, guns, souls, oceans, battlefields, prize, burn, sink, privateer, hammock, lantern and 118 more...
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Nautical Words
lubber, mizzenmast, circumnavigation, clipper, cordage, galleon, gangplank, gangway, flying bridge, following sea, schooner, amidships and 106 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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JesusIsLord's Words
debauchery, plethora, wiki, numinous, wormwood, scribe, gelded, mithridate, orthogonal, jaculiferous, jaculate, jactitation and 415 more...
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Nautical
quinquereme, zabra, baggywrinkle, boatswain, devil to pay, and...
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Who Are You?
No one ever says, "I want to be a somnambulist when I grow up." But don't let that get in the way of organizing your Wordie lists.
chevalier, somnambulist, sommelier, troubadour, vicar, majordomo, caliph, polyglot, polymath, apprentice, nuyorican, privateer and 107 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
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suzyg's Words
brandish, recompence, shopping, dichotomy, paradigm, reverse osmosis, anyway, despite, drunk, degenerate, insipid, grateful and 438 more...
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dickcherry's drivel
the words i'm thinking with
doing, boing, going, tincture, pingback, womenswear, jounce, wrack, a, ish, beeswax, thither and 97 more...
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roseandivy's list
mooncalf, wonted, gibbet, artless, noontide, blithe, glitterati, vorpal, soporific, moxie, pilfer, betwixt and between and 263 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for boatswain.
hernesheir It's a bird. Jan 9, 2012