mariner
(ˈmærɪnə(r))
Forms: 4 marineer(e, marynare, 4–5 maroner, marynere, marener, 4, 6 marynar, 4–7 maryner, 4, (8–9) marinere, 5 maryneer, marouner, maronner, 6 merriner, maryoner, marryner, marinar, marinour, 6–7 marriner, 3– mariner.
[a. AF. mariner = F. marinier, Sp. marinero, Pg. marinheiro, It. marinajo, med.L. marīnārius, f. L. marīnus marine a.]
1. One who navigates or assists in navigating a ship; a sailor, seaman; in law the term includes all persons employed on ships.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 329/220 Marineres us token into heore schipe. 13.. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Herrig Archiv. LVII. 313 A pore schip broken marinere. 13.. Sir Beues (MS. A.) 2556 A dromond hii fonde þer stonde,..Boute þai nadde no maroner. c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' T. Prol. 3 Now longe moote thou saille by the cost,..gentil Maryneer! c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 152 A blynd maryneer that doth no sterre knowe. c 1450 Merlin 379 Thei..entred in to the shippes..and hadde..goode maroners hem for to gide. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. i. 63 Another sterre that ledeth the maronners by the see. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 60 The Maryoners made a grett Showte. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xi. 13 If our marriners had not nimbly bestirred them selues in taking in of their sailes. 1598 Stow Surv. xxvii. (1603) 233 Sir Francis Drake, that famous Mariner. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 98 There shalt thou finde the Marriners asleepe Vnder the Hatches. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative ii. 75 An Ancient Marriner yet living in these parts, a person of good Credit. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 348 The mariner takes one part of the year to go from Java to the Moluccas [etc.]. 1798 Coleridge (title) The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1144 No mariner shall fail in any action, &c. for the recovery of wages, for want of such agreement being produced. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 40 They were to take with them fifty or sixty men, artificers and mariners. 1858 Homans Dict. Comm. 1693/2 Mariners are bound to contribute out of their wages for embezzlements of the cargo, or injuries produced by the misconduct of any of the crew. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 10 Whole generations that might have produced their share of skilful and intrepid mariners. |
b. master mariner: a ‘shipmaster or captain of a merchant vessel’ (
Adm. Smyth). See also
master n.1 30.
| 1838 D. Jerrold Men Char. II. 322 Edward Seabright, master-mariner. 1886 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 4/8 Most of them [officers] the possessors of master-mariner certificates. |
† c. Cant. (See
quot.)
Obs.| 1567 Harman Caveat 48 These Freshwater Mariners, their shipes were drowned in the playne of Salisbery. These kynde of Caterpillers counterfet great losses on the sea. |
† 2. spec. A fighting man on board ship; a marine.
| a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts i. (1704) 214, 500 Men at Sea, whereof 340 Mariners, 40 Gunners, 120 Sailors. 1699 (title) A Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning The four Regiments commonly called Mariners. |
3. Tasmania. A bronze-coloured shell.
[Said to be a corruption of a native name
merrina.]
| 1898 in Morris Austral Eng. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
mariner-like adj.;
† mariner portage: see
portage n.1;
mariner's card,
compass,
needle (see those words);
† mariner's ring, the astrolabe.
| 1548–67 Thomas Ital. Dict., Marinaresco, *marinerlike. |
| 1522 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 327 The bying of *mariner portages. |
| 1627 Hakewill Apol. iii. x. §4. 263 Among other rare Inventions, that of the *Marriners compasse is most worthy of admiration. |
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiii. §1 Like as the West Indies had never been discovered if the use of the *mariner's needle had not been first discovered. |
| 1574 Bourne Regiment for Sea vi. (1577) 26 b, The *Mariners Ring, called by them the Astralaby. |
Hence
† ˈmarinership, the mariner's
art.| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 6 To sitte and holde the stierne in a shyppe, hauyng none experience in ye feats of marinershyp. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 90 The Phœnicians, famous for Merchandise and Marrinership. |