rodmann.
/ˈrɒdmən/, U.S. /ˈrɑdmən/ 1. Surveying (chiefly U.S.). A person who positions or holds a stadia rod or levelling rod. Cf. rod n.1 9a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > surveying > [noun] > surveyor > one who holds the levelling staff
rodman1782
1782 Meeting of Corporation for paving Streets in Dublin 26 The surveyor..said..that the expence of an assistant and rod-men would amount to £34 4.
1827 Jrnl. Thirty-Seventh House of Representatives Pennsylvania 2 522 (payroll) A. B. Warford, 3 months 4 days services as rodman, at $13 per month.
1891 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 177 The rodman, with his rod held vertically, appearing in the center of each picture.
1929 Geogr. Rev. 19 37 The range finder was a novelty in the way of instruments..doing away with the necessity of a stadia rod and rodman.
1942 L. D. Rich We took to Woods ii. 40 When the end of the string comes abreast of the surveyor, he puts up a shout and the rodman stops and makes his blaze.
1972 Publishers Weekly 7 Aug. 48/2 In Chicago in 1925, when he was a rodman with a Cook County surveying crew.
2003 W. A. Duffield When Pele Stirs xix. 137 Liz and Jeb would be ‘rod men’,..the people who carry ten-foot-long metal poles..from survey point to survey point.
2. An angler; = rodsman n.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fisher > [noun] > angler
anglerc1450
piscator1674
piscatorian1694
Waltonian1832
rodsman1837
rod1848
rodman1865
rodster1867
piscatorialist1881
sport fisher1902
sport fisherman1915
sportsfisherman1928
1865 Fisherman's Mag. & Rev. 2 180 A great many persons..held that the month of October should he closed against the rod men.
1884 Daily News 7 Oct. 6/1 While the estuary fishermen have reaped a remunerative harvest, the rod men have had little or no fishing.
1946 A. R. H. Cass Catching Wily Sea-trout v. 49 A person who employs a worm..is regarded by the local rod-men as being outside the pale of honest anglers.
2008 Mercury (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 29 Aug. 20 The OSSA team take us on a rodman's adventure off Durban where they target snoek.
3. U.S. slang. A gunman. Cf. rod n.1 14. Now historical.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > armed man > [noun] > one armed with or using firearm > one bearing or using handgun
handgunner1530
rodman1924
1924 G. C. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 396 Assaulter, rough guy, hard bird, rod man, rod toter.
1934 Washington Post 25 May 1 Morris (Big George) Kauffman, notorious gangster and ‘rod man’, drove to..his death at the hands of fellow ‘mobsmen’.
1962 John o' London's 4 Oct. 325/2 Robert is victim number two of this assassination, the only witness who could identify the rod-man.
1971 J. Curtis Banjo 186 He'd have already sent a rod man.
2000 P. Williamson Mortal Sins 409 One of the rodmen burst out the door of the office with his tommy gun blazing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1782