ferryman
Americannoun
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ferrymen
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ferryman
First recorded in 1425–75, ferryman is from the late Middle English word feryman. See ferry, man
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.
See Examples For:
Kentridge likens the captain to the ferryman, Charon, in Greek mythology transporting the dead across the river Styx to the underworld.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2025
Roy Truman, a descendant of Edward Smith, the captain of the Titanic, is head ferryman of the Butley Foot Ferry.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2024
This week, a different anticyclone, named for Hades’ ferryman, also drifted from North Africa toward Europe’s outer-region nations, consigning Italy to crisis mode.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2023
Italian meteorologists have dubbed the next phase of the European heatwave "Charon" - a reference to the ferryman of the souls of the dead in Greek mythology.
From Reuters ● Jul. 14, 2023
The river was laughing clearly and merrily at the old ferryman.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
Our narrator, Proctor Bennett, is one of the highly respected ferrymen who lead expiring Prosperans to the dock and launch them over to Nursery Isle for a refresh.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2023
Roberto Spada, 75, whose father was one of those ferrymen, said he helped navigate the ferry as a 12-year-old and was interested in helping out the town by doing it again as a volunteer.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2023
One B-52 pilot was inflating his life raft twelve miles downstream from Hanoi in an attempt to escape, when he was surrounded by ferrymen.
From Time Magazine Archive
As one of the River Sava's largest ports, it was a fief of ferrymen who plied their craft from the south bank to Hapsburg-ruled Slavonia on the other side.
From Time Magazine Archive
Inns on the route had upped their rates; ferrymen were charging extra to transport people and carriages across rivers.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
