boatswain

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: boat=swain

CIDE DICTIONARY

boatswain, n. [Boat + swain.].

•  An officer who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, colors, anchors, cables, cordage, etc., of a ship, and who also summons the crew, and performs other duties.  [1913 Webster]
•  The jager gull.  [1913 Webster]

Boatswain's mate, an assistant of the boatswain. Totten.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

boatswain, n. (also bo'sun, bosun, bo's'n) a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew.

Idiom

boatswain's chair a seat suspended from ropes for work on the side of a ship or building.

Etymology

OE batswegen (as BOAT, SWAIN)

THESAURUS

boatswain

Big Brother, OD, auditor, boss, captain, chief, chief engineer, chief mate, commander, comptroller, controller, deck officer, floor manager, floorman, floorwalker, foreman, gaffer, ganger, head, headman, inspector, master, mate, monitor, naval officer, navigating officer, navigator, noncommissioned officer, overman, overseer, patron, pipes, proctor, quartermaster, sailing master, second mate, shipmaster, sirdar, skipper, slave driver, straw boss, subforeman, super, superintendent, supervisor, surveyor, taskmaster, the Old Man, visitor, watch officer

ROGET THESAURUS

boatswain

Mariner

N 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, cockswain, coxswain, steersman, pilot, crew, aerial navigator, aeronaut, balloonist, Icarus, aeroplanist, airman, aviator, birdman, man-bird, wizard of the air, aviatrix, flier, pilot, test pilot, glider pilot, bush pilot, navigator, flight attendant, steward, stewardess, crew, astronaut, cosmonaut, parachutist, paratrooper.