bowsman

English

Alternative forms

• bowman

Etymology

From bow +‎ -s- +‎ man.

Noun

bowsman (plural bowsmen)

1. (nautical) A sailor who works in the bow of a vessel.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 72, in Moby Dick:

     “Being the savage's bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale's back."

2. An archer.
   • 1864, Diary of George Dern; or, Jottings of a Year of Middle Life, London: T[homas] Cautley Newby, […], page 75:

     Whether from natural ailment, or disease engendered by the place he dwelt in, his strength had for many months past ebbed away, till at last he could no longer take his axe from the ingle nook, nor his bow from its crocks over the chimney. The best axeman and best bowsman on Avon side had become helpless as a puling infant.

   • 1879 September 24, S. S. B., “Letter from Iowa”, in Burlington Free Press & Times, volume 34, number 87, Burlington, Vt., published 6 October 1879, page [2], column 3:

     The Des Moines archery club returned from Chicago a few weeks ago laden with trophies won in a contest with the Chicago bowsmen and bowswomen.

   • 1889 August 21, “City Items”, in The Dayton Daily Herald, volume XII, number 21, Dayton, Ohio, page [3], column 3:

     The annual meet of the National Archery Association will take place at the Soldiers’ Home next week, commencing on the 27th. It will be a merrie^[sic] meet, and all the skilled bowsmen and bowswomen in the districts are expected to compete for the admirable prizes.

   • 1940 August 17, “Big Archery Tournament Is Held In City”, in The Sheboygan Press, volume XXXIII, number 206, Sheboygan, Wis., page 2, column 7:

     But the bowsmen (and bowswomen, too) took off their shoes and socks and began pouring arrows into the 48-inch archery targets as the field rapidly dried.

   • 1953, Mary Jourdan Atkinson, The Texas Indians, Naylor Company, page 194:

     Gregg says: “There is hardly any more effective weapon than the bow and arrow in the hands of an expert archer. While the musketeer will load and fire once, the bowsman will discharge a dozen arrows, and that, at a distance under fifty yards, with an accuracy nearly equal to the rifle. […]”

   • 1992, Shannon Drake (pen name; Heather Graham Pozzessere), Damsel in Distress, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 34:

     Now, the bowsmen heralded a mighty charge. Their arrows flew, and then the Crusader army turned in a massive and organized strike.

   • 1995, Radha Krishnamurthy, Sivatattva Ratnakara of Keladi Basavaraja: A Cultural Study, Keladi Museum and Historical Research Bureau, page 347:

     Basavarāja has given some tips to the bowsman so that his aim will not miss the target.

   • 1997, John W. Friesen, Rediscovering the First Nations of Canada, Detselig Enterprises, →ISBN, page 100:

     Each hunter carried about fifty arrows and an expert bowsman could launch them so fast that a shot arrow was still in the air while the next was being released.

   • 2011, Laura Anne Gilman, The Shattered Vine (The Vineart War; book three), Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 290:

     Kaïnam thought, briefly, of returning to his cabin for the spellwines he had stored there: more than the cask of heal-all, there was also a flask of firewine that would put a burn to the serpent’s hide, if he set it to a bowsman’s arrow.

   • 2012, Claire Delacroix, The Warrior (The Rogues of Ravensmuir; book 3), Deborah A. Cooke, →ISBN:

     The bowsman’s arrow took flight and Nissa swore softly.

Coordinate terms

• bowswoman

Anagrams

• Bowmans