down-easter

American  

[doun-ee-ster] / ˌdaʊnˈi stər /

noun

1. a full-rigged ship built in New England in the late 19th century, usually of wood and relatively fast.

2. a native or inhabitant of Maine.

3. a native or inhabitant of New England.

4. Canadian. a native or resident of the Atlantic Provinces.

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Etymology

Origin of down-easter

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20; down East + -er ¹

Example Sentences

And with amazing, quick changes, she can be a featherbrained society woman, a bewildered immigrant, a spare, porch-sitting down-easter, a whole international procession of visitors to an Italian church.

From Time Magazine Archive

George Huntington Hartford, a "down-easter" born at Augusta, Me., went to Manhattan before the Civil War and there operated a modest hide and leather business from his store on Vesey street.

From Time Magazine Archive

The worthy down-easter buttoned his coat more tightly around him, and looking up to the moon replied, "It's a whistler, Captain; and 15 nothing can live comfortably out of blankets to-night."

From Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year by Hartwell, E. C. (Ernest Clark)

The man handling the steering-oar was a grizzled, hawk-nosed down-easter.

From Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors: Tales of 1812 by Barnes, James

This was a supposition first made in the Portland cars, when I was at a loss to know what distinguishing and palpable peculiarity marked me as a "down-easter."

From The Englishwoman in America by Bird, Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy)