coxswain
Other forms: coxswains
The coxswain is the person who steers a boat: the helmsman. If you’re going the wrong way on the sea, blame the coxswain.
There are many different jobs on a boat, including captain and cook. One of the most important jobs is coxswain, which is the helmsman or steersman. In other words, the coxswain is the equivalent of the driver of a car. A coxswain is also the helmsman of a racing crew, like a rowing crew in a competition. The swain part is from a word meaning "servant," and cox is from cok, meaning "a small boat."
-
the helmsman of a ship's boat or a racing crew
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago
Vocabulary lists containing coxswain
In this tale of pirates and plunder, Jim Hawkins sets out for Skeleton Island to find buried treasure.
Train your brain with words from this true account of the American crew team that won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
This nonfiction work tells the story of how thousands of young Russian women volunteered to be trained as pilots, navigators, and mechanics to defend their country during World War II.