whaleman

[ hweyl-muhn, weyl- ]

/ ˈʰweɪl mən, ˈweɪl- /

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noun, plural whale·men.

a person whose occupation is whaling; whaler.

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The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

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Origin of whaleman

An Americanism dating back to 1655–65; whale¹ + -man

The lily-iron is, in principle, exactly what a whaleman would describe by the word “toggle.”
Tales of Fishes|Zane Grey
Sam Baker, being an old whaleman, darted his harpoon cleverly, and held fast the struggling animal.
Fast in the Ice|R.M. Ballantyne
My other assailant I hurled into a heap of ashes, and the way he blubbered was a caution to a Nantucket whaleman.
My Life: or the Adventures of Geo. Thompson|George Thompson
M'Gary, an old-whaleman, familiar from early manhood with the hardships of Arctic voyaging, wept at the sight.
North-Pole Voyages|Zachariah Atwell Mudge

A New Bedford boy might tell us, and very correctly, that the woodpecker harpoons his grub, just as a whaleman harpoons a whale.
The Woodpeckers|Fannie Hardy Eckstorm