Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Boatswain |
BoatswainNoun1. A petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "boatswain" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1608. (references) |
Note: Boatswain \Boat"swain\, noun. [Boat + swain.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | The officer or crew member responsible for deck and fishing gear, boats, rigging, cordage, etc. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Boatswain The officer who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, anchors, cordage, cables, and colours. Swain is the Saxon swein (a boy, servant), Swedish sven. Hence, a shepherd is a swain, and a sweetheart is a woman's servant or swain. Boatswain. The name of Byron's favourite dog, buried in Newstead Abbey garden. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Occupations | Supervises ABLE SEAMAN (water trans.) 911.364-010 and DECKHAND (water trans.) 911.687-022 engaged in cleaning decks and lifeboats, and chipping, scraping, wirebrushing, and painting decks, sides, and superstructure: Examines cargo-handling gear and lifesaving equipment and supervises crew engaged in repairing or replacing defective gear and equipment. May be required to be certified by U.S. Coast Guard as ABLE SEAMAN (water trans.) 911.364-010. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: BoatswainSynonyms: bo's'n (n), bos'n (n), bosun (n), bo'sun (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Mariner | Noun: sailor, mariner, navigator; seaman, seafarer, seafaring man; dock walloper; tar, jack tar, salt, able seaman, A. B.; man-of-war's man, bluejacket, galiongee, galionji, marine, jolly, midshipman, middy; skipper; shipman, boatman, ferryman, waterman, lighterman, bargeman, longshoreman; bargee, gondolier; oar, oarsman; rower; boatswain, coxswain; steersman, pilot; crew. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Boatswain |
| English words defined with "boatswain": Boatswain's mate ♦ deposed ♦ Jager ♦ Serang ♦ Warrant officer. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "boatswain": Boson. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | First crew of NOAA Ship WHITING Chief Boatswain "Pappy Haynes" tall man standing in middle. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Erecting a 30-foot tower for a microwave transponder Assistant Boatswain "Colonel" Sanders Party off of WHITING. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Captain A. Theberge and Lt. Mike Abbott discuss ship-handling during CTD's Chief Boatswain Joe Dimartino watches over winch operator during CTD operations CTD - Conductivity, Temperature, Depth measurements MT. MITCHELL CTD's used to determine ocean sound velocity structure Sound velocity information used to correct soundings during bathymetric mapping. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Captain Theberge and Lt. Abbott monitoring CTD operations Chief Boatswain Joe Dimartino observing winch operator. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Boatswain Eden Described as a typical deepsea sailor On the LYDONIA. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Chief Boatswain Strydr Nutting slings the psychrometer to get wet and dry bulb temperatures. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
 | General Vessel Assistant King runs winch and Chief Boatswain Nutting reads wire angle during bongo tow operations. Credit: Fisheries. |  | Chief Boatswain Jim Kruger (in green hard hat) directs RAINIER Deck Department personnel as the RAINIER returns home to Seattle and its base at the Pacific Marine Center. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Le Grene - the chief boatswain. Plate IV, print 12. In: "Results of the Scientific Campaigns of the Prince of Monaco." Vol. 89. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | Assistant Boatswain Wedderburn arranging something on one arm of the trawl doors. Plate V, print 14. In: "Results of the Scientific Campaigns of the Prince of Monaco." Vol. 89. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Boatswain" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 87.50% of the time. "Boatswain" is used about 8 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 87.5% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 12.5% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 8 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "boatswain": boatswain bird ♦ light boatswain. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "boatswain": boatswain-second. | |
Ending with "boatswain": dry-boatswain, wet-boatswain. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
boatswain mate | 32 |
boatswain pipe | 19 |
boatswain | 19 |
boatswain chair | 9 |
boatswain whistle | 7 |
aviation boatswain mate | 6 |
boatswain call | 6 |
boatswain locker | 4 |
association aviation boatswain mate | 4 |
boatswain navy | 3 |
boatswain mate navy | 2 |
aviation boatswain | 2 |
boatswain mate pipe | 2 |
boatswain call pipe | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "boatswain"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | bocman (bosun), nostrom (coxswain), kryemarinar. (various references) | |
Arabic | عريف الملاحين, ربان (captain, master, navigator, pilot, rabbi, skipper). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | главен боцман, боцман (bosun). (various references) | |
Czech | loïmistr. (various references) | |
Danish | bådsmand (bosun). (various references) | |
Dutch | bootsman (bosun). (various references) | |
Farsi | افسری که مسلول بادبان ولنگراست . (various references) | |
Finnish | pursimies (bosun). (various references) | |
French | maître d'équipage (bosun). (various references) | |
German | bootsmann (bosun, petty officer). (various references) | |
Greek | ναύκληρος (bosun), ναυκληρόσ (bosun), ποδότης, λοστρόμοσ (bosun). (various references) | |
Hebrew | רב מלחים (bosun). (various references) | |
Hungarian | fedélzetmester (bosun), vitorlamester (bosun). (various references) | |
Indonesian | mandor kapal. (various references) | |
Italian | nostromo (bosun). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ボーア磁子 (balk, bauxite, Boeing, Bohr magneton, bow, bow collar, bowing, boy, boy friend, boy hunt, Boy Scouts, boy soprano, boyish, vocal, vocal solo, vocalist, vogue). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ボースン . (various references) | |
Manx | boesyn. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | oatswainbay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | contramestre (bosun, foreman, forewoman, overlooker, overman, quartermaster, supervisor). (various references) | |
Romanian | şef de echipaj. (various references) | |
Russian | боцман (bosun). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | bocman, narednik. (various references) | |
Spanish | contramaestre (bosun, petty officer). (various references) | |
Swedish | båtsman (bosun). (various references) | |
Turkish | marinel başı (bosun), lostromo (bosun, chief of the crew). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | боцман. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "boatswain": boatswains. (additional references) | |
| |
"Boatswain" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: beasain, botswain. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-b-i-n-o-s-t-w" | |
-2 letters: abstain, bastion, bonitas, obtains, sabaton. | |
-3 letters: abatis, atwain, awaits, basion, batons, bionts, biotas, bonita, bonsai, bwanas, nawabs, obtain, sonata, twains, wasabi. | |
-4 letters: anoas, antas, antis, await, baits, basin, baton, bints, biont, biota, bison, boast, boats, botas, bwana, iotas, nabis, nawab, nowts, obias, obits, ostia, sabin, sabot, saint, santo, satin, stain, stoai, swain, tains. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-b-i-n-o-s-t-w" | |
+1 letter: boatswains. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
