trawler
(ˈtrɔːlə(r))
[f. trawl v. + -er1.]
1. One who trawls; one who fishes (a) orig. with a trawl or trawl-net; (b) in W. of Scotl., etc. as in trawl v. 2; (c) in U.S. with a trawl-line.
| 1599 [implied in trawler boat: see 3]. 1630 [see trawl n. 2, v. 1]. 1652 Order Council of State May 31–June 10 in First Du. War (Navy Rec. Soc.) I. 258 The Council did not intend..that fishermen..trawlers and others..should be stayed. 1864 Glasgow Daily Herald 24 Sept., If trawling recommences all will become trawlers. Ibid., The trawlers have damaged my nets, and stolen some of them, too. |
2. A vessel employed in fishing with a trawl-net; now applied to a steam-trawler.
| 1847 Webster, Trawler, a fishing vessel which trails or drags a net behind it. (Eng.) 1848 Life in Normandy (1863) II. xiii. 254 When I was in a trawler we always studied the run of the tide..and ran as clear before it as we could. 1881 Times 21 Dec. 4/4 An action of salvage for services rendered by the owners, masters, and crews of the steam trawler Restless Wave, and the smacks Urgent and Harry Sinclair, to the iron ship Culzean. 1887 E. J. Mather Nor'ard of Dogger ix. (1889) 114 The modern plan of fitting the trawlers with steam-capstans had not come..into vogue. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
trawler-boat,
trawler-fleet;
trawler-man: see
quots.| 1599 Admir. Crt. Exam. 34, Jan. 31, There came..Thomas Segar with his *trawler boat. |
| 1909 Daily Chron. 28 Dec. 1/4 The Picton Castle, a steam trawler belonging to the Castle *trawler fleet..has been capsized in the River Douro. |
| 1633 Stow's Surv. London 19 Fishermen..stiled by the name of T[r]inckermen,..Hebbermen, Petermen, *Trawlermen, &c., that have lived (in precedent times) by very unlawfull fishing on this River. 1701 Cowell's Interpr., Trawlermen. 1839–40 [see hebberman]. |
| 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 8 Oct. 7/5 Trawlermen of Hampton, Phoebus, Portsmouth and nearby harbors are planning a union. 1958 Times 9 Oct. 11/6 The distant water trawlermen..are doing work that for its hazards, long hours, and gruelling conditions would be difficult to compare with any job ashore. 1976 ‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth i. 9 A few boys became trawler-men, but life was easier and richer at the fish-packing station. 1984 Times 20 Feb. 1/4 As the son of a trawlerman..he wanted to see the very highest level of safety of people crewing vessels of all kinds. |