beachcombingn.
/ˈbiːtʃkəʊmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈbitʃˌkoʊmɪŋ/, New Zealand English /ˈbiːtʃˌkʌumɪŋ/ 1. Originally: the action of living as a beachcomber (see beachcomber n. 1a). Later usually: the activity or pastime of wandering the beach, looking for interesting or valuable items. Also (as a count noun): the material found by a beachcomber.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage
loitering1530
vacabuncy1535
vagabondry1547
vagabuncy1549
roguing1577
roguery1594
vagabondinga1628
vagrancy1706
vagrance1751
vagabondizing1755
vagabondage1813
vagabondism1822
vag1859
beachcombing1867
trampism1893
hoboism1930
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > worth reclaiming > on beach
beachcombing1910
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 88 Beach-combing, loafing about a port to filch small things.
1910 S. Reynolds Alongshore iv. xxiii. 257 Our own beachcombings are odds and ends, flotsam and jetsam, to eke out a living.
1918 W. J. Locke Rough Road iv An old hand who knew the whole thing backwards, from company promoting to beach combing.
1956 Sewage & Industr. Wastes 28 115/2 The bright and sunny weather encouraged wading, sunning and beachcombing.
2015 Time Out London 5 May 27/2 The Turks and Caicos Islands are a must-see on the bucket list of any lover of snorkelling, scuba diving, helmet diving and beachcombing.
2. New Zealand. Mining. The action or process of extracting metals or minerals from sand dunes, beaches, coastal plains, etc. Now rare.
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1867 Nelson (N.Z.) Examiner 7 May 3/5 There are a number busily employed in what, in mining parlance, is called ‘beach combing,’ or, in other words, in collecting the black sand that is left upon the beach after the tide retires.
1896 A. P. Harper Pioneer Work in Alps of N.Z. 83 A few diggers live here [sc. Gillespies Beach, West Coast], working for gold on the beach... This ‘beach combing’ is sometimes profitable, as a great deal of ‘surfacing’, or black gold-bearing sand, is now and then deposited after a storm.
1906 Goldfields N.Z. 15 in App. Jrnls. House of Representatives N.Z. (2nd Sess. 16th Parl.) I. c3 Operations in connection with alluvial mining at and around Orepuki..are very varied in their character, and comprise sluicing, underground mining, and beachcombing.
1939 Hokitika (N.Z.) Guardian & Evening Star 18 Dec. Gold is still won from the sea-beaches near Okarito... Parties are at present engaged in ‘beach-combing’ at the ‘Five-mile,’ ‘Three-mile,’ and other localities for the precious dust.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022).
beachcombingadj.
/ˈbiːtʃkəʊmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈbitʃˌkoʊmɪŋ/ Designating or relating to a beachcomber; engaged in beachcombing.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [adjective] > with no fixed aim or wandering > as a vagabond or tramp
vagrant1461
loiteringa1533
way-walkinga1535
roguing1566
roguish1572
vagabondical1576
vagabond1585
vagabondinga1586
land-loping1587
vagrom1600
leap-land1614
vagabondial1615
vaguea1627
gangrel1650
vagabondious1661
going1737
gang-there-out1815
tramping1828
vagabondizing1830
pikey1838
beachcombing1845
runagate1877
going-about1886
bummy1890
1845 E. J. Wakefield Adventure in N.Z. II. vii. 180 Among these beach-combing wanderers, I recognised many acquaintances.
1880 H. S. Cooper Coral Lands I. xx. 242 The beach-combing pioneers of the Pacific.
1994 J. Barth Once upon Time 48 My wife and I plant messaged bottles on our own beach at Langford Creek, to be found serendipitously by young beachcombing grandkids summer-visiting from California.
2005 New Yorker 17 Oct. 100/1 Their neighbors were boat builders and beachcombing bohemians.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1867adj.1845