merchant seaman

noun

1. a seaman who works on a merchant vessel.

Word History and Origins

Origin of merchant seaman¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

He eventually enlisted in the Marine Corps and was a merchant seaman before pursuing a career in journalism, according to Tucker Carlson’s post.

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And in a wayfaring six-decade career, he was a merchant seaman, a jazz pianist, a law student, a television news anchor, a familiar character on network sitcoms, an Emmy-winning documentarian, a good will ambassador to China, a longtime expatriate in Europe — and a reported dead man; in 2015, rumors that he had been killed were mistaken.

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By then, Ona had made plans to marry John Staines, a free black man and merchant seaman.

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Her father was a railway signalman, union official and former merchant seaman who claimed that her pram was crammed full of Labour literature during the campaign that led to Labour's 1945 landslide election victory.

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The oldest: merchant seaman Thomas Hardwyre Milligan, 64.

Read more on Reuters