Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A man who holds up and robs travelers on a road.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A robber on the highway; one who robs passengers in public roads or places.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who robs on the public road; a highway robber.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a holdup man who stops a vehicle and steals from it
Etymologies
- From highway + man. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The highwayman is the inspiration for my victims in my newest book.”
“Captain, as they called the highwayman, good luck.”
“Her chair had been stopped by a highway-man: the great oaf of a servant-man had fallen down on his knees armed as he was; and though there were thirty people in the next field working when the ruffian attacked her, not one of them would help her; but, on the contrary, wished the Captain, as they called the highwayman, good luck.”
“Goethe obtained a copy of the biography of a noble highwayman from the Peasants’ War.”
“Give me a highwayman and I was full to the brim; a Jacobite would do, but the highwayman was my favourite dish.”
“The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1017. [”
“But in our neighborhood a highwayman was a myth, -- we had hardly ever even heard of one; and so, after no end of misgivings lest one or another lion in the way should after all compel the relinquishment of the excursion, literally at the eleventh hour they were fairly on their way.”
“There was the whole town of Ohadi to testify that the highwayman was a big man, of the build of Harry, and that he spoke with a Cornish accent.”
“A dozen or more were cut off in this way, and soon it came to be whispered about that Marot the highwayman was the man that did it, and the chase became hot at his heels. ”
“-- happy scene, where the sheep-stealer is metamorphosed into the shepherd; the highwayman is the guardian of the road; the dandy is delicate no more, and earns his daily bread; and the Court of Chancery is unknown -- hail to thee, soil of larceny and love! of pickpockets and principle! of every fraud under heaven, and primeval virtue! daughter of jails, and mother of empires!”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 337, October 25, 1828
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘highwayman’.
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Bad Options
words for those who commit particular crimes: i.e., bank robber, arsonist, etc.
liar, cheat, traitor, arsonist, felon, braggard, thief, profiteer, impostor, phony, fraud, culprit and 212 more...
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Perponyms
List of words referent to persons who commit specific crimes, or are suspected of committing those crimes, beginning with arsonist and safecracker.
Check out reesetee's nice Bad Guys l...arsonist, safecracker, murderer, rapist, getaway man, jewel thief, accomplice, drug dealer, carjacker, gunrunner, industrial spy, human trafficker and 216 more...
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scoundrels and bastards
already several of these lists, but I wanted my own
varlet, scoundrel, slubberdegullion, bastard, hooligan, boor, churl, thug, cad, ne'er-do-well, miscreant, minx and 85 more...
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bad guys
black hat, thug, thugz, highwayman, brigand, pirate, corsair, raider, viking, visigoth, vandal, gangster and 46 more...
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Thief Words
Words that deal with stealing and thievery!
steal, plunder, theif, robber, rob, take, kidnap, stole, take ownership, snatch, grab, hide and 19 more...
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Man
Everything that contains a man in it
taxman, salesman, common man, spaceman, neolithic man, straw man, seaman, fireman, spiderman, overman, old man, con man and 373 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (H)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
haberdashery, hailstone, halcyon, halibut, halo, hamadryad, hammock, harangue, harbour, harebell, harlequin, harp and 104 more...
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A Swell Mob
Kinds of thieves.
thief, sneak thief, burglar, cat burglar, picklock, puggard, robber, grave robber, piller, porch climber, prowler, larcenist and 133 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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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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dienekes's Words
chutzpah, lexicon, intrepid, pedagogical, schlemiel, schism, erudite, anathema, pugilist, jaunty, paradigm, automaton and 949 more...
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Archaic Occupations
Some of these professions still exist today but the word for them has changed; some (mason or boatswain, for example), are still in use but are included for their rich historical associations. Som...
yeoman, summoner, chandler, ostler, carter, chapman, slaver, mason, cordwainer, cooper, glazier, dyer and 187 more...
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die6die's Words
somnambulist, obfuscate, hirsute, kleptobibliomania, serendipitous, dissuade, duplicitous, zounds, lo, unleash, fortnight, thaumaturgy and 278 more...
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Bad Guys
For more badness, see hernesheir's excellent Perponyms.
rascal, scoundrel, blackguard, mountebank, rapscallion, scamp, miscreant, knave, scapegrace, rogue, charlatan, hoodlum and 65 more...
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picaresque
An assortment of ruffians, villains and scamps.
(who are remarkably endearing for all they are bad seeds...)ruffian, villain, scamp, imp, fiend, bastard, cad, brute, desperado, miscreant, knave, devil and 62 more...
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