merchantmann.
/ˈməːtʃ(ə)ntmən/, U.S. /ˈmərtʃ(ə)ntm(ə)n/ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trader > merchant > [noun]
merchantc1225
grocer1427
merchantman1449
marketor1474
fleece-feeder1549
mercadore1595
marcantanta1616
man of business1640
correspondent1698
businessman1803
mercantile1813
net importer1925
commercial1962
1449 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 402 That na merchand man of this burgh opin his both dorr to do ony merchandise..apon the Sondai.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 737/1 He hath the best storyd house of good housholde stuffe of any marchant man that I knowe.
1550 M. Coverdale tr. O. Werdmueller Spyrytuall & Precyouse Pearle xxix. sig. Lviijv A marchaunt man, maketh farre vyages and great iorneys and venteryth body & goodes.
1638 J. Ford Fancies v. 67 All men of severall conditions; Soldier, Gentry, foole, scholler, Merchant man, and Clowne.
1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth III. 126 'Mongst Merchant-Men, there's not one in ten, But what is a cunning Angler.
1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. iii. 64 The port dues and shipping taxes have..nearly destroyed all the commerce of the minor merchantmen of Italy.
1898 K. Tynan in Westm. Gaz. 12 Oct. 1/3 Battering at Dublin gates till the comfortable merchantmen within were fairly distracted.
2. A ship conveying merchandise; a vessel of the merchant navy.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > [noun]
merchant1585
trader1616
merchantman1627
merchanter1653
merchanteer1890
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xii. 56 Not manned like a Merchant-man.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 15 Jan. (1970) II. 14 A brave new merchant-man..to be called the Royall-oake.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 21. ¶9 Fleets of Merchantmen are so many Squadrons of floating Shops.
1763 E. Cornwallis Let. 29 Aug. in G. Cornwallis-West Life & Lett. W. Cornwallis (1927) i. ii. 29 I am now writing by a merchant-man, as I hear there are two to sail for Jamaica soon.
1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenstein I. 18 This letter will reach England by a merchant-man now on its homeward voyage.
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 148 Merchantmen were paying twenty-five dollars for common able seamen.
1919 Times 9 June 6/4 Dazzle painting was never intended for use on ‘ships of the line’, but only for merchantmen..and war vessels working with them.
1957 S. W. Roskill H.M.S. Warspite vii. 212 He..postponed the sailing of his own merchantmen from Malta.
1992 J. Creighton Oil on Troubled Waters 69 There were a number of instances when Iran used ‘gunboats’... In one of these attacks, the victim was a Soviet merchantman.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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