Panman
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A man who plays steelpan.
"But the early steelbands were greeted with considerable hostility. The panmen were slum-dwellers, working-class men with little formal education; middle-class residents objected to the noise from the pan yards and associated the men with hooliganism and rough behaviour."
- 2 One who works with pans.
"Having, done this, the panman stirs together about a quart of spice, and a gallon of lime-water, and pours this mixture into each pan. When the sugar is again brought to a scalding heat, it throws up a second scum, not so foul as the first, which is removed as before."
- 3 One who works with pans.; One who fills the molds for clay bricks.
"In a dispute between the brickmakers and brick carters' employees and the employers' union, the issues settled contained, among other provisions, the following: Panmen, one to be employed at each pan, but when 2 pans feed from 1 shoot a boy or man to assist;"
- 4 One who works with pans.; One who oversees the making of salt in a panhouse.
"The panman's life seems as little to be envied as that of the women. He begins work on Monday morning and does not leave the shed till Saturday night, for no sooner is one boiling over than another begins, and he must be on the spot. His wife or assistant may go home for a few hours after the pan is refilled with brine until the formation of salt commences ; but for him there is no such respite, and he can only sleep by snatches."
- 5 One who works with pans.; One who oversees the steaming process in refining sugar.
"The duty of a panman is to see the pan properly steamed out, to charge it with syrup and to turn on the syrup, keeping the coils well covered; and when the syrup is boiled down to a given consistency the panman sends for the sugar boiler, who then takes charge, forms the grain, which is the most critical part of sugar boiling, and then again turns the work over to the panman, with orders at what heat to keep the pan boiling;"
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- 6 One who works with pans.; One who operates a machine that whirls candy in a pan to give it a shiny smooth surface.
"Different concerns vary considerably in their methods and organization according to the special nature of their product, but the common divisions are for handwork: Chocolate and bonbon dippers and confectioners; and for machine work: Chocolate dippers, panmen, cream makers and moulders."
- 7 One who works with pans.; One who loads cottonseed cakes into a press in order to extract cottonseed oil.
"The meal being dry and spongy, the former does not press the cakes small enough to let them go in the press-boxes with ease, so there is a hardship on the panman; after the pressure is put on them they will hang and stick to the boxes and break and scatter on the floor and perhaps you will not get one whole cake out of a pressing;"
Example
More examples"But the early steelbands were greeted with considerable hostility. The panmen were slum-dwellers, working-class men with little formal education; middle-class residents objected to the noise from the pan yards and associated the men with hooliganism and rough behaviour."
Etymology
From pan + -man.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.