ˈmerchantman
[f. merchant a. + man.]
1. = merchant n. 1. arch.
| 1449 Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 402 That na merchand man of this burgh opin his both dorr to do ony merchandise..apon the Sondai. 1530 Palsgr. 737/1 He hath the best storyd house of good housholde stuffe of any marchant man that I knowe. 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle xxix. (1560) 289 A marchant man maketh far voiages and great iourneis, and ventureth body and goods. 1638 Ford Fancies v. iii, All men of severall conditions; Soldier, Gentry, foole, scholler, Merchant man, and Clowne. 1719 D'Urfey Pills III. 126 'Mongst Merchant-men, there's not one in ten, But what is a cunning Angler. 1882 Ouida Maremma iii, The port dues and shipping taxes have..nearly destroyed all the commerce of the minor merchantmen of Italy. 1898 K. Tynan in Westm. Gaz. 12 Oct. 1/3 Battering at Dublin gates till the comfortable merchantmen within were fairly distracted. |
2. A vessel of the mercantile marine.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xii. 56 Not manned like a Merchant-man. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 21 ¶9 Fleets of Merchantmen are so many Squadrons of floating Shops. 1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenst. iii. (1865) 19 This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on its homeward voyage. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 148 Merchantmen were paying twenty-five dollars for common able seamen. |