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remittance man

American  

noun

  1. a person who is supported abroad chiefly by remittances from home.


remittance man British  

noun

  1. a man living abroad on money sent from home, esp in the days of the British Empire

"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

Etymology

Origin of remittance man

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

We did not ask each other’s business there; and, judging by the dogs and gun, we put him down as a ‘remittance man.’

From Project Gutenberg

In one version the Murphy character is a used-car salesman in the Bronx who falls in love with Shivas’s daughter and winds up a remittance man in Tahiti.

From New York Times

Asked me did I know that you were a remittance man who had forfeited his allowance and that your partner was a steamboat mate who’d been fired out of his ship.

From Project Gutenberg

She didn't approve of me because I was an idler and presumably a remittance man.

From Project Gutenberg

The timber wolf I trimmed out because he wasted around like a remittance man.

From Project Gutenberg