ordinary seaman


noun
  1. a seaman insufficiently skilled to be classified as an able-bodied seaman. Abbreviation: O.D., O.S., o.s.

Origin of ordinary seaman

1
First recorded in 1695–1705

Words Nearby ordinary seaman

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ordinary seaman in a sentence

  • Nils Petter, on the other hand, chatted with the men and lent a hand with the work like any ordinary seaman.

    Dry Fish and Wet | Anthon Bernhard Elias Nilsen
  • McKenzie, Jenkins and an ordinary seaman had finished their speed recording task and were reeling in the line.

    The Viking Blood | Frederick William Wallace
  • This gallant officer, who in his Cambridge days was renowned as a scholar and a poet, fought as an ordinary seaman at Antwerp.

  • For sailors are of three classes—able-seaman, ordinary-seaman, and boys; and they receive different wages according to their rank.

    Redburn. His First Voyage | Herman Melville
  • ordinary seaman Daniel Davis, bones of wrist fractured, said to have been sustained by 203 fall from hammock.

    The Battleship Boys at Sea | Frank Gee Patchin

British Dictionary definitions for ordinary seaman

ordinary seaman

noun
  1. a seaman of the lowest rank, being insufficiently experienced to be an able-bodied seaman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012