cabin boy

American  

noun

1. a boy employed as a servant for the officers and passengers on a ship.

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cabin boy British  

noun

1. a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship

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Etymology

Origin of cabin boy

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

The 1884 death of a cabin boy in a lifeboat was no accident.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 3, 2025

When the storm that sank the ship surged again, a young cabin boy was left stranded.

From National Geographic • Aug. 18, 2023

Here you have this man who goes to the Arctic at 18 as a cabin boy for Commander Peary.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 28, 2022

The chief protagonist of much of “Beale Street Dynasty” is Robert Church, a mixed-race cabin boy who, at age 23, found himself on the deck of a Mississippi paddle-wheeler on June 6, 1862.

From Washington Post • Mar. 26, 2015

“Then she is also related to that ungrateful scoundrel and thieving cabin boy, Eduardo Leones!”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein