BEST MAN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does best man mean? 

• BEST MAN (noun)
  The noun BEST MAN has 1 sense:

1. the principal groomsman at a wedding

  Familiarity information: BEST MAN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEST MAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The principal groomsman at a wedding

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("best man" is a kind of...):

groomsman (a male attendant of the bridegroom at a wedding)

Holonyms ("best man" is a member of...):

wedding; wedding party (a party of people at a wedding)

 Context examples 

I'm cap'n here by 'lection. I'm cap'n here because I'm the best man by a long sea-mile.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

As I have said, I am the skipper of the Rugger team of Cambridge ’Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best man.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You chose the best man, and how could you do otherwise?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My uncle, who is the very best man in the world, has exerted himself, as I knew he would, after seeing your brother.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It seems that there had been some informality about their license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search of a best man.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He appeared to have a very open temper—certainly a very cheerful and lively one; she could observe nothing wrong in his notions, a great deal decidedly right; he spoke of his uncle with warm regard, was fond of talking of him—said he would be the best man in the world if he were left to himself; and though there was no being attached to the aunt, he acknowledged her kindness with gratitude, and seemed to mean always to speak of her with respect.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Here, Coppinger, send your best man back to Friar’s Oak as fast as his horse can go, to find news of my valet, Ambrose.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And while they were still staring, I broke out again, “And now, Mr. Silver,” I said, “I believe you're the best man here, and if things go to the worst, I'll take it kind of you to let the doctor know the way I took it.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I knew that the instant I clapped eyes on you; but I want you to remember that when you fight Crab Wilson, you will fight the most promising man from the west, and that the best man of the west is likely to be the best man in England.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)