tidewaiter

[ tahyd-wey-ter ]

noun

1. a customs officer who checks goods upon a vessel's landing, to secure the payment of duties.

tidewaiter

/ ˈtaɪdˌweɪtə /

noun

1. (formerly) a customs officer who boarded and inspected incoming ships

Other Words From

• tidewaiter·ship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tidewaiter¹

First recorded in 1700–15; tide ¹( def ) + waiter ( def )

Example Sentences

Before one he trails a hat and feather, or a bare feather without a hat; before another, a Presidential chair, or a tidewaiter's stool, or a pulpit in the city, no matter what.

From Project Gutenberg

But he had not the smallest influence with the Secretary of the Treasury, and could not venture to ask even for a tidewaiter's place.

From Project Gutenberg

A voter was often in search of the place of a 'tidewaiter'; and, as we know, the greatest poet of the day could only be rewarded by making him an exciseman.

From Project Gutenberg

Before one he trails a hat and feather, or a bare feather without a hat; before another, a Presidential chair, or a tidewaiter's stool, or a pulpit in the city, no matter what.

From Project Gutenberg

Leaving the army, C. held for a time a commission in the mounted constabulary of Madras, and now he is a third class assistant tidewaiter in the Imperial Maritime Customs of China, with a salary as low as his spirits are high.

From Project Gutenberg