Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A ship used in commerce.
  • noun Archaic A merchant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A merchant.
  • noun A ship employed in the transportation of goods, as distinguished from a ship of war; a trading vessel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A merchant.
  • noun A trading vessel; a ship employed in the transportation of goods, .

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete merchant
  • noun a cargo ship -- engaged in commercial activities, as opposed to a warship

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cargo ship

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • One day the lookout called a merchantman bearing to the west.

    Spice and the Devil's Cave 1930

  • A merchantman is the craft he inclines to -- at least, to make a beginning with -- especially one that trades from port to port, visiting many lands; for, in truth, his leaning toward a sea life has much to do with a desire to see the world and its wonders.

    The Land of Fire A Tale of Adventure Mayne Reid 1850

  • Blackwall and viewed the dock and the new Wet dock, which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to be launched shortly, and they say to be called the Royal Oak.

    Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1661 N.S. Samuel Pepys 1668

  • So after a cup of burnt wine -- [Burnt wine was somewhat similar to mulled wine, and a favourite drink] -- at the tavern there, we took barge and went to Blackwall and viewed the dock and the new Wet dock, which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to be launched shortly, and they say to be called the Royal Oak.

    Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 09: January/February/March 1660-61 Samuel Pepys 1668

  • Blackwall and viewed the dock and the new Wet dock, which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to be launched shortly, and they say to be called the Royal Oak.

    Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete Samuel Pepys 1668

  • "Aboard the merchantman was another like myself who speaks the tentacle-claw-finger language of the sea.

    A Triumph of Souls Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2000

  • So after a cup of burnt wine ” [Burnt wine was somewhat similar to mulled wine, and a favourite drink] ” at the tavern there, we took barge and went to Blackwall and viewed the dock and the new Wet dock, which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to be launched shortly, and they say to be called the Royal Oak.

    The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Jan/Feb/Mar 1660/61 Pepys, Samuel 1661

  • Scotty wept over his poor old mother in Edinburgh -- a lady, he insisted, gently born -- who was in reduced circumstances, who had pinched herself to pay the lump sum to the ship-owners for his apprenticeship, whose sacrificing dream had been to see him a merchantman officer and a gentleman, and who was heartbroken because he had deserted his ship in Australia and joined another as a common sailor before the mast.

    Chapter 6 2010

  • In the second, Whisky Galore, the thirsty inhabitants of a remote Scottish village hijack the cargo of a whisky-laden merchantman wrecked on their shores during the second world war and defy the authorities to repossess it.

    Whisky Galore – review 2011

  • The present war was an outgrowth of a colonial dispute between Britain and Spain in the Caribbean, which started when a Spanish ship stopped a British merchantman skippered by Robert Jenkins, who lost an ear in a fight with the boarding party.

    George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011

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