remittance man

American  

noun

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

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remittance man British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of remittance man

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

The leading character, Ben Eckhardt, might be described as a Foundation remittance man who lives meagerly but independently in Paris as a perennial student.

From Time Magazine Archive

Captain Cook found some geographical points, but he missed the emotional one that Sadie Thompson and Ginger Ted, the supreme remittance man in all literature, have supplied to millions.

From Time Magazine Archive

"We are all fastened to the Arctic by the strongest ties," said a bewhiskered remittance man.

From Time Magazine Archive

Founding father of the Open Air Campaigners was a 19th century remittance man named Ned Field, exiled from England for unspecified wrongdoing, who felt that he had been cured of cancer in answer to prayer.

From Time Magazine Archive

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 The Secret of the Reef by Bindloss, Harold