SAILOR

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sailor mean? 

• SAILOR (noun)
  The noun SAILOR has 3 senses:

1. any member of a ship's crew

2. a serviceman in the navy

3. a stiff hat made of straw with a flat crown

  Familiarity information: SAILOR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SAILOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any member of a ship's crew

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

crewman; sailor

Hypernyms ("sailor" is a kind of...):

skilled worker; skilled workman; trained worker (a worker who has acquired special skills)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sailor"):

hand (a member of the crew of a ship)

lascar (an East Indian sailor)

gob; Jack; Jack-tar; mariner; old salt; sea dog; seafarer; seaman; tar (a man who serves as a sailor)

water dog; water rat (a person who enjoys being in or on the water)

yachtsman; yachtswoman (a person who owns or sails a yacht)

Instance hyponyms:

Alexander Selcraig; Alexander Selkirk; Selcraig; Selkirk (Scottish sailor who was put ashore on a deserted island off the coast of Chile for five years (providing the basis for Daniel Defoe's novel about Robinson Crusoe) (1676-1721))

Derivation:

sail (traverse or travel on (a body of water))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A serviceman in the navy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bluejacket; navy man; sailor; sailor boy

Hypernyms ("sailor" is a kind of...):

man; military man; military personnel; serviceman (someone who serves in the armed forces; a member of a military force)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sailor"):

coastguardsman (a member of a coastguard)

Navy SEAL; SEAL (a member of a Naval Special Warfare unit who is trained for unconventional warfare)

striker (someone receiving intensive training for a naval technical rating)

submariner (a member of the crew of a submarine)

Derivation:

sail (traverse or travel on (a body of water))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A stiff hat made of straw with a flat crown

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

boater; leghorn; Panama; Panama hat; sailor; skimmer; straw hat

Hypernyms ("sailor" is a kind of...):

chapeau; hat; lid (headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim)

 Context examples 

"You mean to use this young sailor to wake her up?" he questioned.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Mercy on them, and on all poor sailors, said he, if we had another night like the last!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There's Laurie, looking like a sailor, nice boy!

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently talking to someone in the sea.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As to the sailor and Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day on which the letter of warning was written.

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

Wolf Larsen made the same demand of the sailors.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him in London, and down I went to squeeze him.

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

I know there is sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There are several odd-looking men walking about here, who, I am told, are sailors.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us—all in soiled sailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)