Link Centre Dictionary

boatswain

boats·wain

UK/ˈbəʊ.sən/ US/ˈbəʊt.sweɪn/ rare

noun

1.

a petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen

Synonyms

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • boatswain's call
  • boatswain's chair
  • boatswain's mate
  • boatswain's pipe

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.