Whalesman

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sailor or crew member who works aboard a whaling vessel, hunting and processing whales for their oil and other products
2. Someone employed in the whaling trade, going to sea in ships that pursue and kill whales
3. A mariner engaged in the historic industry of hunting whales at sea and preparing their carcasses

Etymology: "Whalesman" is simply a compound of "whales," the plural of "whale," and "-man," meaning a person who works with or is involved in the thing named by the first part. It describes a man who hunts or works on whaling ships, a whaler in the older sense of the trade. The construction follows the familiar pattern of older English words like "fisherman" and "sportsman," in which "-man" names a person connected with a particular activity. The word is a plain, transparent formation rather than a coinage with a famous backstory. Its interest lies mainly in how directly it names its trade: the compound puts the quarry itself into the title of the worker, in the same way that "fisherman" puts the fish into the name of the fisher.

Synonyms: whaler, whaleman