shipman
(ˈʃɪpmən)
Pl. -men.
[f. ship n. + man n.1
OE. scipman = OFris. skipman, MLG., MDu. schipman, MHG. schif-, schefman (G. schiffmann, also schiffs-), ON. skipamaðr.]
1. A seaman or sailor. Now somewhat arch.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xiii. (1890) 200 Þa ongunnon þa nedlingas & þa scipmen þa oncras upp teon. 1052 O.E. Chron. (MS. C), Se cyng hæfde eac mycele landfyrde on his healfe to eacan his scypmannum. 1122 Ibid. (Laud MS.), Þær æfter wæron feole scipmen on sæ & on wæter. c 1275 Lay. 1335 Brutus iheorde segge of his sipmannen of þan vuele ginne þat cuþe þe mereminne. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 354 Shipmen and shepherdes þat with shipp & shepe wenten. 1406 Hoccleve La Male Regle 238 So inly mirie syngith shee [the mermaid], þat the shipman ther-with fallith a sleepe. 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 236, xviij shipmen as laborers laboryng..abought..the Kynges dokke. 1563 Homilies ii. Agst. Idolatry iii. O o 4 Our Ladye, to whom shypmen synge Aue maris stella. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 172 The dreadfull spout, Which Shipmen doe the Hurricano call. 1623 R. Carpenter Consc. Christian 65 A most ridiculous folly, like to the Shipmans continuall labouring at the pumpe, without any care to mend the leake. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. xvi. ii. §2 He was seen sailing by the shipmen most unexpectedly. 1791 Nairne Poems 82 But when the shipmen's boist'rous noise Jan heard, He cried, ‘Dant gu no furder—I'm afeard’. 1876 Lowell Ode 4th July iv. ii, They steered by stars the elder shipmen knew. |
| fig. 1564 Brief Exam. ***iij b, The wyse shipmen of our Churche haue spyed the rockes. |
2. A master mariner; the master of a ship; a skipper. Also, a pilot.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 390 A Shipman was ther, wonynge fer by weste. 1429 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 359/2 No oyer shipp⁓man yat is bothe Possessour and Maister of any Shippe. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1395 Shep-man [loq.] stryke! skryke! lett fall an ankyr to grownd! a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 234/1 The Ship-man, or Pilot, that brings the Ship into harbour. 1912 Masefield Widow in Bye St. ii. xxxix, The wise shipman puts his ship about Seeing the gathering of those waters wan. |
3. attrib.:
† shipman-craft = shipcraft;
† shipman-star, the pole-star.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. iii. (Bodl. MS.), Vnder þe sterre þat hatte polus articus schyppman sterre. 1418 26 Pol. Poems xiv. 43 Þe wyseman his sone forbed..shipman craft. |
b. Possessive combinations:
† shipman's card, the mariner's compass; also, a map of the sea;
† shipman's hose (or
breeks), a sailor's wide trousers; often
fig. a statement of wide application that can be turned to fit any case;
† shipman's stone, the loadstone.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xiv. 161 The Ademand, that is the Schipmannes Ston, that drawethe the Nedle to him. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 447/1 Schypmannys stone, calamita. 1530 Palsgr. 267/1 Shypmans carde, carte. 1540 W. G. Answ. Smyth vii, Although a shypmans hose wyll serue all sortes of legges Yet Christes holy scrypture wyll serue no rotten dregges. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 134 Manye of those mappes which are commonly cauled the shipmans cardes, or cardes of the sea. 1562 Winȝet Cert. Tractates Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 52 Forgeing thair sermonis for the plesuir of euery auditour, efter the fassoun of schipmenis breiks, mete for euery leg. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 79 They make the lawes (as it were) shipmens hoosen,..turning and wresting them at their pleasure. 1592 Nashe Strange Newes L 3 The fourth letter of our Orators..is a shipmans hose that will serue any man as well as Green or mee. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 17 All the Quarters that they [sc. the winds] know, I'th' Ship-mans Card. [1809 Malkin Gil Blas xi. xiv. (Rtldg.) 421 Shafts of malicious wit..were let fly from all the quarters in the shipman's card.] |
Hence
ˈshipmanship, the art of navigation.
| 1838 De Quincey in Tait's Mag. V. 159 He was respected equally for his seamanship and his shipmanship. |