boatswain
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English botswain, botswein, bote-swayn, from late Old English bātsweġen, from bāt (“boat”) + sweġen (“swain”), the latter element a borrowing from Old Norse sveinn (“boy”); equivalent to boat + swain (“boy, servant”).[1]
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈbəʊ.sən/; (spelling pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbəʊt.sweɪn/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈboʊ.sən/
- Rhymes: (UK) -əʊsən, (US, Canada) -oʊsən
Noun
boatswain (plural boatswains)
- The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship.
- The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.
- A kind of gull, the jaeger.
- The tropicbird.
Quotations
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 1:
- Alon. Good Boteſwaine haue care : where's the Maſter ? […]
Derived terms
Translations
officer of a sailing ship
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References
- ^ “boatswain”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
