pressmastern.
/ˈprɛsˌmɑːstə/, /ˈprɛsˌmastə/, U.S. /ˈprɛsˌmæstər/ Now historical.
A person authorized to press recruits into military service in the navy or army; the officer in command of a press-gang.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > leader or commander > officer according to function > [noun] > recruiting officer
arrayer1617
pressmaster1617
lister1678
solicitor1698
recruiting officer1706
recruiting sergeant1706
recruiter1760
enlister1865
1617 J. Swetnam Schoole Sci. Defence 57 When he [sc. King Henry VIII] went to Bulloigne hee sent out his Presse-masters, commaunding them to bring all the lustiest hackers in the country.
c1643 N. Boteler Dialogues (1929) (modernized text) i. 10 It is a grown proverb, that the press-master, or muster-master, carrieth the able men in his pocket.
1697 View Penal Laws 52 Two men for every hundred Tun Vessel..Press free; and if any Press-master presume to press such then he shall forfeit 10l.
1705 London Gaz. No. 4087/4 In case he should have been forced from his Duty by..Press Masters by Land or Sea.
1726 J. Barker Lining of Patch-work Screen 122 We came to an Inn, where there happened to be some Persons pretending to be Pressmasters raising Men to go to Sea.
1804 Times 14 Sept. 3/3 The Prosecutor asked him, if he did not know Pat Dunn, the press master.
1859 J. B. Taylor Virginia Baptist Ministers 438 Within a few weeks a press-master passed, and he was draughted to serve two years in Georgia and North Carolina.
1896 Eng. Hist. Rev. 11 28 The press masters found great difficulty in executing their warrants.
1956 Cambr. Hist. Jrnl. 12 117 Appointed a pressmaster in 1665..he defrauded the widow of his partner of the latter's wages.
1999 New Eng. Q. 72 579 The committee in each town..drew up instructions for the pressmaster (usually the town's constable).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1617