SEAMAN

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A man who serves as a sailor

Synonyms:

gob; Jack; Jack-tar; mariner; old salt; sea dog; seafarer; seaman; tar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("seaman" is a kind of...):

crewman; sailor (any member of a ship's crew)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "seaman"):

able-bodied seaman; able seaman (a seaman in the merchant marine; trained in special skills)

bo's'n; bo'sun; boatswain; bos'n; bosun (a petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen)

deckhand; roustabout (a member of a ship's crew who performs manual labor)

helmsman; steerer; steersman (the person who steers a ship)

bargee; bargeman; lighterman (someone who operates a barge)

officer; ship's officer (a person authorized to serve in a position of authority on a vessel)

pilot (a person qualified to guide ships through difficult waters going into or out of a harbor)

sea lawyer (an argumentative and contentious seaman)

whaler (a seaman who works on a ship that hunts whales)

Derivation:

seamanly (characteristic of or befitting a seaman; indicating competent seamanship)

seamanship (skill in sailing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Muckraking United States journalist who exposed bad conditions in mental institutions (1867-1922)

Synonyms:

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman; Elizabeth Seaman; Nellie Bly; Seaman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

journalist (a writer for newspapers and magazines)

Credits

Context examples:

From the windows of our little whitewashed house, which stood high upon a grassy headland, we looked down upon the whole sinister semi-circle of Mounts Bay, that old death trap of sailing vessels, with its fringe of black cliffs and surge-swept reefs on which innumerable seamen have met their end.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your interests were the same as his.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“There are seven of the Winchester men, eleven seamen, your squire, young Master Terlake, and nine archers.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As for that swab, he's good and dead, he is, he added, indicating the man with the red cap. He warn't no seaman anyhow.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In the top one lay Oofty-Oofty, a Kanaka and splendid seaman, so named by his mates.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The seamen did not speak kindly then of their recent enemies.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yes, I was certain it was a seaman.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One of the seamen, in Portuguese, bid me rise, and asked who I was.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

‘Hudson it is, sir,’ said the seaman.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By the courtesy of the chief boatman, I was, as your correspondent, permitted to climb on deck, and was one of a small group who saw the dead seaman whilst actually lashed to the wheel.