matelot
(ˈmætləʊ)
[Fr., sailor; cf. matlow.]
1. A sailor. Naut. slang.
| 1911 ‘Guns’ & ‘Theeluker’ Middle Watch Musings 8 You've just got two old and respected matelots well scrubbed for nuffing. 1915 Blackw. Mag. July 89/1 We invite the matelots to lie on their backs on the upper-deck. 1947 Landfall I. 283 What time we had left was spent on fruitless errands for the Pommie matelots. 1955 Times 10 Aug. 3/3 The Navy was there once more and so were the two matelots of Monday. 1970 [see Jock1 1 b]. 1974 Listener 21 Nov. 672/1 Our screen matelots..should be as reticent as..Captain Horatio Hornblower. |
2. Applied to a shade of blue.
| 1927 Daily Tel. 26 Apr. 13/5 (Advt.), Fawn, Rose,..Almond, Matelot. 1928 Daily Express 27 July 5/4 A lovely deep blue known as ‘matelot’. |