redemptioner

American  

[ri-demp-shuh-ner] / rɪˈdɛmp ʃə nər /

noun

American History.

1. an emigrant from Europe to America who obtained passage by becoming an indentured servant for a specified period of time.

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redemptioner British  

/ rɪˈdɛmpʃənə /

noun

1. history an emigrant to Colonial America who paid for his passage by becoming an indentured servant

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Etymology

Origin of redemptioner

First recorded in 1765–75; redemption + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Mr. Quimby bought him at the wharf out of a redemptioner ship.

From Project Gutenberg

Not fancying the idea of becoming a son of �sculapius he flew the course and without money or the knowledge of his friends entered as a redemptioner on board a vessel bound for Philadelphia.

From Project Gutenberg

The redemptioner, who was carried off to the British settlements in America, did in the end improve his economic condition, and his descendants, like those of the free immigrants, now form the population of the country.

From Project Gutenberg

As a specimen of their mode of treatment, let us take Matthew Lyon, first an Irish redemptioner bought by a farmer in Derby, then an Anti-Federal champion and member of Congress from Vermont; once famous for publishing Barlow's letter to Senator Baldwin,—for his trial under the Alien and Sedition Act,—for the personal difficulty when "He seized the tongs To avenge his wrongs, And Griswold thus engaged."

From Project Gutenberg

In a few years David McComee had earned enough to pay back the price of his purchase money, and was no longer a redemptioner, but a free man and his own master.

From Project Gutenberg