boatswain

English

This was a boatswain (noun sense 1.1) of the Royal Navy in 1820.

Alternative forms

• bosun, bo'sun, boson, bos'n, bo's'n

Etymology

From Middle English botswain, botswein, bote-swayn, from late Old English bātsweġen, from bāt (“boat”) + sweġen (“swain”), the latter element a borrowing from Old Norse sveinn (“boy”); equivalent to boat +‎ swain (“boy, servant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (UK) /ˈbəʊ.sən/, (spelling pronunciation) /ˈbəʊt.sweɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊ.sən/
• Rhymes: (UK) -əʊsən, (US, Canada) -oʊsən

Noun

boatswain (plural boatswains)

2. A person aboard ship who is in charge of various maritime affairs.
   2. The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship.
   4. The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.
3. A kind of gull, the jaeger.
4. The tropicbird.

Quotations

• 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 1:

  Alon. Good Boteſwaine haue care : where's the Maſter ? […]

Derived terms

• boatswain-bird
• boatswain's call
• boatswain's chair
• boatswain's mate
• boatswain's pipe

Translations

officer of a sailing ship

• Bulgarian: бо́цман (bg) (bócman)
• Catalan: nostramo (ca) m, contramestre (ca) m
• Czech: loďmistr m, bocman m
• Dutch: bootsman (nl) m
• Finnish: pursimies (fi), puosu (fi)
• French: bosco (fr) m, maître d'équipage (fr) m
• Galician: contramestre m
• Georgian: ბოცმანი (bocmani)
• German: Bootsmann (de) m
• Greek: λοστρόμος (el) m (lostrómos)
• Hungarian: fedélzetmester (hu)
• Ingrian: botsmani
• Irish: bósan m, maor loinge m
• Italian: nostromo (it)
• Macedonian: боцман m (bocman), водач на палуба (vodač na paluba)
• Marshallese: bojin
• Norman: baûsouîn m
• Polish: bosman (pl) m
• Portuguese: contramestre (pt) m
• Russian: бо́цман (ru) m (bócman)
• Serbo-Croatian: vođa palube m
• Spanish: contramaestre (es)
• Swedish: överskeppare c, båtsman c
• Turkish: lostromo (tr)
• Welsh: bosn m