raftsman

American  

[rafts-muhn, rahfts-] / ˈræfts mən, ˈrɑfts- /

noun

• raftsmen
  plural

1. a person who manages or is employed on a raft.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• raftsmen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of raftsman

First recorded in 1770–80; raft ¹ + 's ¹ + -man

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

raftsman raftsmen

He was their raftsman; he had been seen out on the log boom, pike pole in hand, shoving logs in to the endless chain elevator that drew them up to the seas.

From Kindred of the Dust by Kyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)

Both of the men were inexperienced, one being a raftsman who came down the river, and the other a man from Vicksburg.

From Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches by Roosevelt, Theodore

In my early days I knew one Jack Chase who was a lumberman on the Illinois, and when steady and sober the best raftsman on the river.

From Luke Walton by Alger, Horatio

The boy did not get the information he was after, but his adventure has furnished the glimpse of the departed raftsman and keelboatman which I desire to offer in this place.

From Life on the Mississippi, Part 1. by Twain, Mark

Here he was, a raftsman plying between Cracow and Warsaw, those two hot-beds of Polish patriotism—a mere piece of human driftwood on the river.

From The Vultures by Merriman, Henry Seton

Young Heyerdahl entertained a theory that Incan raftsmen might thus have freighted their civiliza tion to Polynesia.

From Time Magazine Archive

When you read about Mark Twain's Mississippi raftsmen and pilots, or Bret Harte's Western gold miners, they seem more remote than the cannibals of the Stone Age.

From Time Magazine Archive

The raftsmen also on the other side of the wood were an object of envy to him.

From Tales from the German Comprising specimens from the most celebrated authors by Various

While winding their way through the torturous currents of the river, these raftsmen may be considered the most independent set of people that navigate the great watery thoroughfare.

From Eight days in New Orleans in February, 1847 by Pickett, Albert James

Billy Brackett was desirous of establishing friendly relations with the raftsmen when he should overtake them, and feared that would be impossible in case they should recognize him.

From Raftmates A Story of the Great River by Munroe, Kirk