Midman
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A male midwife. rare
"Coordinate term: midwoman"
- 2 A worker with a status lower than that over master or overseer, but greater than that of apprentice or boy.
"one of these seats is called in the North the 'house father's chair', and is never filled except by the head of the family; that which stands opposite to it is reserved for the principal guest, or for the midman who is of most importance in the household."
- 3 A paddler who sits in the middle of a long canoe.
"On the first visit of Sir George Simpson to Vancouver's Island in 1824, he accompanied the Governor as a midman in his canoes ."
- 4 A sailor whose area of responsibility is in the middle of a boat.
"A leisure-pensioned sailor of the King Who made more knights and sailors by his talks In one short year than half the schools in Spain, As midman in his youth sailed venture-wise Joined with a master seeking coast or isle Unknown, but prospered little"
Example
More examples"In the course of time the man-midwife or midman has displaced the midwife to an assistant position."
Etymology
Blend of midwife + man.
More for "midman"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.