Supracargo
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An officer on board a merchant ship who is in charge of the cargo and its sale; also, if there are two of such officers, the senior one, the other being the subcargo. historical
"In a ſtorm, vvhen the Ship is in danger of periſhing, it is not lavvful for the Maſter at his ovvn diſcretion, vvithout advice firſt had vvith the Merchants or their Factors or Supracargoes, to caſt goods overboard for the Lightning the Veſſel, or to Cut dovvn the Maſt, or the like; but in caſe they conſent not, and the Maſter ſee cauſe for it, he may even againſt their conſents do the ſame, by the advice of the major part of his Mariners, vvho at the end of their Voyage are to make oath, that they did the ſame out of Neceſſity, and only for preſervation of Ship and Lading, and by advice of the Mariners: […]"
- 2 An agent or representative of a company in charge of its overseas business. obsolete
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"In a ſtorm, vvhen the Ship is in danger of periſhing, it is not lavvful for the Maſter at his ovvn diſcretion, vvithout advice firſt had vvith the Merchants or their Factors or Supracargoes, to caſt goods overboard for the Lightning the Veſſel, or to Cut dovvn the Maſt, or the like; but in caſe they conſent not, and the Maſter ſee cauſe for it, he may even againſt their conſents do the ſame, by the advice of the major part of his Mariners, vvho at the end of their Voyage are to make oath, that they did the ſame out of Neceſſity, and only for preſervation of Ship and Lading, and by advice of the Mariners: […]"
Etymology
From English supra- (prefix meaning ‘above, over’) + borrowed from Italian sopracargo, a dialectal form of sopraccarico, from sopra- (prefix meaning ‘above, over’) + carico (“cargo”) (from caricare (“to load; to take aboard”), from Late Latin carricāre, the present active infinitive of carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“cart, wagon; cartload”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”)) + -icō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
More for "supracargo"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.