boatman
(ˈbəʊtmən)
[f. boat n. + man.]
1. A man who manages a boat.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. v. 41 This sorofull boitman. 1514 Fitzherb. Just. Peas (1538) 39 Enquere of botemen, and bargemen. 1600 C. Sutton Disce Mori xxix. (1838) 297 Do not as boatmen are wont, who row one way but look another. 1855 Singleton Virgil II. 105 The boatman from the Stygian wave. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 78 Meeting a boatman one day on the Thames. |
2. = boat-fly.
| 1841 E. Newman Hist. Insects 106 The boatman dives under the water, occasionally coming to the surface for a supply of air. Ibid. 267 Water-boatmen or Notonectites. |