Banksman

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The person who directs the operation of a crane or larger vehicle from the point near where loads are attached and detached. UK

    "It was signalled forward by a banksman and as it passed him at low speed, the amber lights on the level crossing illuminated, […] The banksman was facing away from the crossing when signalling the lorry driver and did not notice the crossing's activation for about five seconds, […] After being alerted by another member of staff, the banksman ordered the lorry to reverse as the barriers started to lower."

  2. 2
    Synonym of browman.

Example

More examples

"It was signalled forward by a banksman and as it passed him at low speed, the amber lights on the level crossing illuminated, […] The banksman was facing away from the crossing when signalling the lorry driver and did not notice the crossing's activation for about five seconds, […] After being alerted by another member of staff, the banksman ordered the lorry to reverse as the barriers started to lower."

Etymology

From bank + -s- + -man.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.