landsman

[landz-muh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR landsman ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural lands·men.

Also landman. a person who lives or works on land.

an inexperienced sailor or one who has not been to sea before.

RELATED WORDS

compatriot, national

Origin of landsman

before 1000 for sense “native”; Middle English landes man, londes man, Old English landes mann; see land, 's¹, -man

Usage note

See -man.

landsman

[lahnts-muh n]

noun, plural lands·leit [lahnts-lahyt] /ˈlɑnts laɪt/, English lands·men. Yiddish.

a person from the same town, geographical area, region, etc., as another; compatriot.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for landsman

Historical Examples of landsman

HALL is a landsman, and therefore the proper man to send in search of land.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 6, May 7, 1870
Various
Madden realized he was seeing what every landsman dreams of seeing: a naval battle.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
Shall I appoint a mariner to be skipper of my vessel, or a landsman?
The Memorabilia
Xenophon
It was a daring act; so daring that, landsman as I was, I deemed it almost foolhardy.
Luttrell Of Arran
Charles James Lever
These are the stock-in-trade of the landsman; they were too real for the sailor to sing about.
The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties
Richard Runciman Terry

British Dictionary definitions for landsman

landsman

noun plural -men

a person who works or lives on land, as distinguished from a seaman

a person with no experience at sea

landsman

noun plural -men

a Jewish compatriot from the same area of origin as another

Word Origin for landsman

from Yiddish

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012