matross

English

Etymology

From Dutch matroos (“sailor, seaman”), essentially from French matelot (“seaman”), from Middle Dutch mattenoot. Compare German Matrose, Swedish matros, Danish matros, and Crimean Tatar matros. Doublet of matelot.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məˈtɹɒs/

Noun

matross (plural matrosses)

1. (military, now historical) An artilleryman next in rank to a gunner; a gunner's mate, especially one who assists the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns. [from 17th c.]
   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter V, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 48:

     [T]he matrosses, in their annual gesture of amity, had torn the sky with the largest piece of ordnance in the Great Keep […] .

Anagrams

• Mastros, stroams, stromas