English edit

Etymology edit

fisher +‎ -man.

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Noun edit

fisherman (plural fishermen, feminine fisherwoman)

  1. A fisher, a person engaged in fishing:
    1. Any person who attempts to catch fish.
      The fisherman cast his line.
    2. A person whose profession is catching fish.
      He is a fisherman, out on a trawler for days at a time.
      • 1663, Edward Waterhous [i.e., Edward Waterhouse], chapter I, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, [], London: [] Tho[mas] Roycroft for Thomas Dicas [], →OCLC, page 38:
        I knovv God by Miracle can inſtruct Kings, as he rained Mannah, and raiſed the Apoſtles from letterless Fiſher-men, to learned Metropolitans, and profound Doctours.
  2. A vessel (boat or ship) used for fishing.
    • 1938, Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips, Cromwell's Captains[1], page 196:
      They tortured and put to death English factors in the Spice Islands; they descended upon the fisheries of the North Sea in huge fleets escorted by men-of-war that attacked and sank the fishermen of other nations
    • 1987, John Rousmaniere, Cruising Club of America. Technical Committee, Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts[2], page 26:
      Such boats should not have been fast, but the better fishermen — particularly John Alden's designs - [] won a big share of the offshore and coastwise races

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