Bosun

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of boatswain (“warrant or petty officer on board a naval ship”). alt-of, alternative

    "They tied us up—the fellow who handled me could tie like a bosun—and there we lay with our toes up, beneath a tree, while a great brute stood guard over us with a club in his hand."

  2. 2
    a petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bo's'nbo'sunboatswainboatswainbos'n

Example

More examples

"They tied us up—the fellow who handled me could tie like a bosun—and there we lay with our toes up, beneath a tree, while a great brute stood guard over us with a club in his hand."

Etymology

Corruption of boatswain.

Related phrases

bosun's chairrum bosun

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