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. The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a
sailing ship. - n. The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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
- Middle English botswein : bot, boat; see boat + swein, mate; see swain.
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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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 154 more...
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with Public Acc...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 77 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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Nautical
quinquereme, zabra, baggywrinkle, boatswain, devil to pay, and...
hernesheir It's a bird. Jan 9, 2012