pitman

¹ American  

[pit-muhn] / ˈpɪt mən /

noun

plural

pitmen, pitmans

1. a person who works in a pit, as in coal mining.

2. Machinery. any of certain types of connecting rods.

---

Pitman ² American  

[pit-muhn] / ˈpɪt mən /

noun

1. Sir Isaac, 1813–97, English inventor of a system of shorthand.

---

Pitman ¹ British  

/ ˈpɪtmən /

noun

1. Sir Isaac. 1813–97, English inventor of a system of phonetic shorthand (1837)

---

pitman ² British  

/ ˈpɪtmən /

noun

1. a person who works down a mine, esp a coal miner

---

Etymology

Origin of pitman

First recorded in 1600–10; pit ¹ + -man

Example Sentences

Towering over a high street in a former mining heartland, a statue of a pitman reminds Cornwall of its industrial past.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2023

Monk describes the labor-intensive cooking process, from the pitman carefully tending the fire to chopping to a texture that’s just right.

From Washington Post • Sep. 20, 2015

A new full-time pitman, 27-year-old Daniel Williams from Reedville, Va., was hired about a year ago to replace 72-year-old James Howell, a veteran of some 30 years, who continues part time.

From Washington Post • Sep. 20, 2015

Paintings of a colliery and of a miners' pub, by the pitman painter Norman Cornish, hang on the walls.

From The Guardian • May 18, 2013

Not long after he began to work at Black Callerton as brakesman, he had a quarrel with a pitman named Ned Nelson, a roistering bully, who was the terror of the village. 

From Lives of the Engineers The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson by Smiles, Samuel