Log in or Sign up
  1. powder monkey love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Slang One who carries or sets explosives.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A boy employed on ships to carry powder from the magazine to the guns.

Wiktionary

  1. n. informal An explosives expert. A person who sets explosives.
  2. n. nautical The persons employed to carry gun powder from the ship's magazine to the gun deck during a battle; in the 18th century Royal British and U. S. Navies, this task (also carrying water) during battles became a permanent nickname for the ship's cabin boys and apprentice seamen.
  3. n. skiing, snowboarding, informal A skier or snowboarder who avidly seeks out the “powder” (light, dry, fluffy snow).

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Naut.) a boy formerly employed on war vessels to carry powder; a powder boy.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. someone who carries explosives (as from the magazine to the guns on board a warship)

Examples

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. help
  1. assistant
  1. supporter
  1. helper

tags (1)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. artillery

Log in or sign up to add your own tag.

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘powder monkey’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • chained_bear Originally, and chiefly nautical, a boy employed to carry gunpowder from the powder magazine to the guns, esp. on board a warship. Also figurative. Now historical.
    Usages:
    1774 D. HENRY Hist. Acct. Voy. Eng. Navigators II. 406 "One of the lads, called powder-monkies, being heedless, a cartridge that he was carrying blew up in his hands."
    1798 LADY HAMILTON Letter to Admiral Nelson, 8 Sept., "I would have been rather an English powder-monkey or a swab in that great victory than an emperor out of it." Feb 13, 2007

Tweets

Looking for tweets for powder monkey.

‘powder monkey’ has been looked up 994 times, added to 11 lists, commented on 1 time, and is not a valid Scrabble word.