navigator
(ˈnævɪgeɪtə(r))
Also 7 -our.
[a. L. nāvigātor, agent-n. f. nāvigāre: see navigate v. and -or. Cf. F. navigateur (15th c.).]
1. a. One who navigates; a sailor or seaman, especially one skilled and experienced in the art of navigation; one who conducts explorations by sea.
| 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 43 He that at euery gust puts to the Lee, shall neuer be good Nauigator. 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. xi. (1635) 234 Our times haue brought forth the most excellent Nauigators of all ages. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 17 Every Seaman of industry and ingenuity, is not only a Navigator, but a Merchant. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 2 The several navigators whose Voyages round the World have been published. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. i. I. 17 The enterprising spirit which had prompted the navigators of Tyre. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay iv, I soon became an expert navigator and a good practical seaman. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. xv. §622 When a navigator undertakes a voyage now, he does it with the lights of experience to guide him. |
| transf. 1803 Pic Nic No. 5 (1806) I. 177 Putting it into the hands of our tonish navigators and curricleers. |
b. One who navigates an aircraft or spacecraft.
| 1784 Universal Mag. LXXIV. 20/1 But they soon lost sight of our aerial navigators. 1825 in Hone Every-day Bk. I. 442 Mr. Graham, another aërial navigator, let off another balloon. 1834, 1915 [see air navigator s.v. air n.1 B. III. 4]. 1929 T. E. Lawrence Let. 12 July (1938) 663 The Navigator of the airship will be getting his W/T bearings & time signals all the way, and will plot his course exactly. 1930 Daily Express 6 Oct. 3/5 The commander [of the airship] must have known, and the navigator. 1943 [see air-bomber (air n.1 B. III. 3)]. 1951 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IV. 290/2 Once in flight, the navigator's task is continually to ‘fix’ his position by observations. Ibid. 291/2 A pilot or navigator..cannot choose any course he pleases, as his is not the only aircraft in the sky. 1960 F. Gaynor Dict. Aerospace 161 Navigator, a crew member who plots and directs the movement of a space ship from within the ship. |
c. One who navigates a motor vehicle.
| 1950 M. Laski in Contact May–June 26/1 It is..possible to take an extended motor-trip abroad without ever coming into contact with the Art of Navigation... Far better to become an Accomplished Navigator, and be free of all roads everywhere. 1964 W. Markfield To Early Grave (1965) vii. 120 A groan went round the car. ‘—we are a little, little bit fahrblunged.’ ‘Our navigator,’ fumed Levine. 1968 M. Carroll Dead Trouble ii. 25, I sat in the car, content and lazy. Lisa needed no navigator. She seemed to know just where whe was going. 1971 ‘D. Rutherford’ Clear the Fast Lane 37 Grant would be responsible for everything to do with the car..whilst Ritchie, who would act as his navigator, would be responsible for maps, routes and the latest road information. 1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 110 Navigator, the co-driver of a two-man operation who reads the road maps while going through unfamiliar towns. |
2. a. A labourer employed in the work of excavating and constructing a canal (
cf. navigation 7 b), or, in later use, in any similar kind of earthwork. Now usually contracted to
navvy.
| 1775 in Earwaker Sandbach (1890) 284 Above forty of the Navigators, now working near Hassal. 1800 Gentl. Mag. Dec. 1130/2 Some foundations of buildings were also discovered [in making a canal]..; but Navigators are not very curious in these matters. 1819 Southey in Q. Rev. XXI. 396 Seven old navigators (as canal-men are called in the midland counties). 1846 Ld. Stanley in Croker Papers (1884) III. 86, I was assured..that the railway navigators..consume on an average two pounds of meat daily. 1890 Stirling Gifford Lect. xiv. 276 What a strong healthy fellow is the navigator on the line. |
b. dial. (See
quot. and
navigation spade.)
| 1879 Jefferies Amateur Poacher xi. 197 A ‘navigator’ or draining-tool. This is a narrow spade of specially stout make; the blade..resembles an exaggerated gouge. |
Hence
† navigatory a., nautical.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1650 Charleton Paradoxes 86 A needle..placed at free range in the navigatory Compasse. |