beachcomber
Americannoun
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a person who lives by gathering saleable articles of jetsam, refuse, etc., from beaches.
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a vagrant who lives on the seashore, especially a nonnative person living in such a way on a South Pacific island.
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a long wave rolling in from the ocean onto the beach.
noun
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a person who searches shore debris for anything of worth, esp a vagrant living on a beach
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(in British Columbia) a person who is paid for salvaging loose logs and returning them to logging companies
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a long high wave rolling onto a beach
Other Word Forms
- beachcombing noun
Etymology
Origin of beachcomber
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
With his long face, heavy glasses and thinning hair, he padded around the office like a beachcomber in old sneakers, baggy pants and rumpled polo shirts, schmoozing with the staff.
From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2023
Soon, moving along the rows of the periodic table like a beachcomber on a shore, Cade began to experiment with salts of rubidium, cerium and strontium.
From Nature • Aug. 25, 2019
Jennifer Moeller’s voluminous oyster-colored robe for Prospero wittily establishes him as a majestic beachcomber, and Christopher Akerlind’s subtle lighting scheme gives off a series of softly becoming, occasionally multi-hued, glows.
From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2014
Twenty minutes away lives another "beachcomber" with a rather different lifestyle.
From BBC • Sep. 26, 2013
He reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
