cruisern.
/ˈkruːzə/, U.S. /ˈkruzər/ 1. figurative.1699 G. Farquhar Love & Bottle iv. ii. 47 Ha! There's a stately Cruiser [a woman]; I must give her one chase.
a. A person or a ship that cruises; spec. a warship commissioned to cruise for protection of commerce, pursuit of an enemy's ships, capture of slavers, etc. In 18th cent. commonly applied to privateers. Now, in the British Navy, a class of warships specially constructed for cruising.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > cruiser
cruiser1679
North Sea groper1830
barbette-cruiser1884
gun cruiser1884
cruiser-battleship1909
battle-cruiser1911
1679 G. Rose tr. P. Boaistuau Theatre of World ii. 302 Forty Ships which he took from the Crosiers [? croisers] or Pyrates.
1695 London Gaz. No. 3061/1 They have at present 6 Frigats abroad, with some other Cruisers.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 225 A French Cruiser, or Privateer of 26 Guns.
1757 J. Lind Lett. Navy Pref. 8 A few cruizers..would have made us masters of the Mediterranean.
1851 W. H. Dixon W. Penn i. 10 One of the boldest and most successful cruisers in the fleet.
1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 110 The efforts..made by our cruisers in these Seas to put down the Slave trade.
b. A yacht constructed or adapted for cruising, as distinguished from a ‘racer’; also, a motor-vessel designed for pleasure cruises on the sea, or on rivers, canals, etc. See also cabin cruiser n. at cabin n. Compounds 2.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > pleasure vessel > [noun] > yacht > types of yacht
steam-yacht1812
skimmer1844
schooner-yacht1876
cruiser1879
keel1883
skimming-dish1884
cutter-yacht1885
bulb-keel1893
keel-boat1893
forty1894
half-rater1894
forty-tonner1895
one-designer1897
raceabout1897
forty-footer1902
sonder1907
star1911
tonnage-cheater1912
scow1929
tabloid1930
Yngling1969
maxi yacht1974
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > pleasure vessel > [noun] > motorboat
motor boat1871
cabin cruiser1921
motor cruiser1921
runabout1932
cruiser1971
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > mechanically propelled vessels > [noun] > motor vessel > motor-cruiser
cabin cruiser1921
motor cruiser1921
cruiser1971
1879 in É. Bonnaffé Dict. Anglicismes (1920)
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 724/2 As to the number of yachts now afloat, cruisers as well as racers, the British yacht fleet..now numbers..3000 yachts.
1971 Observer 10 Jan. 37/1 (advt.) Explore beautiful uncrowded waterways in 2- to 6-berth luxury cruisers.
1971 Observer 10 Jan. 37/2 Explore the fascinating inland waterways on a real canal cruiser.
c. One who goes on a pleasure cruise.
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society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > [noun] > passenger or types of
sitter1653
steerage-passenger1822
blood1929
cruiser1940
1940 Times 9 Jan. 6/4 Shovel-board, with which cruisers are familiar on board our liners.
1961 Guardian 11 Jan. 5/4 Most ‘cruisers’ find the time all too short for what they want to do.
d. One who cruises (sense 1d) in search of a casual sexual partner. Chiefly U.S.
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the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual relationship > [noun] > casual > walking or driving about in search of > one who
cruiser1903
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > frequenting prostitutes > kerb-crawling > one who
cruiser1903
kerb-crawler1955
1903 H. Hapgood Autobiogr. Thief ii. 34 Even the Bowery ‘cruisers’ (street-walkers) carried them.
1910 H. Hapgood Types from City Streets i. viii. 140 The Bowery girl, the ‘cruiser’,..is taught early that ‘the world is graft’.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §508/3 Cruiser,..a homosexual who looks for patrons.
1980 Amer. Speech 55 191 With the recent diffusion of the [homosexual] subculture, such [until recently secret or semi-secret] terms are gradually becoming known, for example, queer, queer bitch, aunt, and cruiser.
e. transferred. One who tours or travels about on land.
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1927 Observer 25 Sept. 24 With the coming of autumn motor wanderers begin to plan their foreign tours... It is certainly an excellent axiom that the perfect motor cruiser is happiest when he makes no plans at all.
2.
a. In science fiction, an aircraft or spaceship.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > spacecraft > [noun] > fictional spacecraft
starship1882
cruiser1923
lifeboat1934
skimmer1949
1923 E. R. Burroughs Chessmen of Mars vii. 70 The cruiser ‘Vanator’ careened through the tempest.
1958 T. Godwin in ‘E. Crispin’ Best SF 3 94 The cruisers carried the colonists to their new worlds.
b. A police-car that patrols the streets. North American.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor car > [noun] > police car
police cruiser1858
police car1881
prowl car1922
cruiser1929
unit1929
patrol car1931
scout car1933
squad car1938
Z-car1961
black and white1965
panda1966
squad1974
1929 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 7 Dec. 68/2 The cruisers are high~powered seven-passenger touring cars manned by a crew of four.
1958 Ottawa Citizen 28 May 7/5 To lift all speed regulations from police cruisers chasing law-breaking suspects.
1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 25/1 In Weymouth Patrolmen Richard McDonald and Ralph Campbell were injured when a car hit their cruiser.
3.
a. (See quot. 1900.) Cf. cruise v. 2. Chiefly U.S.
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the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > prospecting for timber > prospector
cruiser1893
timber-cruiser1894
1893 Scribner's Mag. June 695/1 My first day's experience as a ‘Cruiser’ or ‘Landlooker’.
1900 E. Brucken N. Amer. Forests 81 A peculiar class of people variously known as woodsmen, cruisers, landlookers, whose business it is to give information as to the existence of pine timber, its location, amount, value.
1909 S. E. White Rules of Game v. viii Even if a cruiser in the old days happened to look down on this, he wouldn't realize how good it was.
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 11 Oct. 9/3 Dave Vanstone..was on a timber cruising expedition with his two head cruisers.
1946 R. Peattie Pacific Coast Ranges 232 With his cruiser's eye, he could measure the quantity and the quality of the timber from the water's edge.
b. A long-legged boot such as timber-cruisers often wear. U.S.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > high or long > types of
jockey-boot1683
top-boot1768
Cossack boot1805
wellington boot1815
Hessian boot1834
jockey1851
Napoleon1853
Napoleon boot1860
jockey-leg1862
larrigan1886
kamik1891
mukluk1898
cruiser1902
jockey-back1909
1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail xvii. 125 Dressed in broad hats, flannel shirts, coarse trousers tucked in high-laced ‘cruisers’.
1903 S. E. White Forest x. 129 He brought to light..‘cruisers’ of varying degree of height.
1946 Sat. Evening Post 11 May 41/1 He was wearing Tillamook light cruisers.
4. Boxing. Short for cruiser-weight n. at Compounds 2.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > boxer > of specific weight
welter1804
lightweight1817
middleweight1847
heavyweight1857
light middleweight1885
light-heavyweight1887
featherweight1889
light-heavy1892
light welterweight1892
welter weight1896
light welter1904
super heavyweight1907
middle1908
fly-weight1911
heavy1913
superheavy1917
cruiser-weight1920
light flyweight1922
cruiser1928
mini-flyweight1971
1928 Daily Tel. 28 Feb. 16 Poor heavy-weights. Gallant ‘cruisers’.
1928 Daily Chron. 9 Aug. 11/2 Cuthbert Taylor (flyweight), John Garland (bantam), and Alfred Jackson (cruiser) all survived their preliminary tests.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a.
cruiser-pinnace n.
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1934 T. E. Lawrence Let. 8 June (1938) 806 The new cruiser-pinnaces.
cruiser-squadron n.
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1901 Westm. Gaz. 30 July 6/2 Cruiser squadrons.
b.
cruiser-built adj.
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1902 Westm. Gaz. 7 May 5/1 Cruiser-built merchantmen.
C2.
cruiser stern n. Nautical a type of ship's stern without an overhang, the projecting part being under the water.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > rear part of vessel > [noun] > types of
aplustre1705
pink-stern1759
swim1867
cruiser stern1915
1915 G. S. Baker Ship Form i. viii. 74 If the water line at the stern is kept too full it results in..eddymaking, and partly to avoid this a ‘cruiser stern’ has been adopted in many recent ships.
1950 P. F. Anson Sc. Fisherfolk viii. 111 In most modern fishing vessels of the larger type..a ‘cruiser-stern’ is now almost universal.
cruiser tank n. a tank (tank n.7) of intermediate weight designed for rapid movement.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > military vehicles > [noun] > armed or armoured > tank > types of
whippet1918
cruiser tank1940
Valentine1941
General Sherman (tank)1942
Valentine tank1943
buffalo1944
flail tank1944
1940 Illustr. London News 197 133 Armoured turrets of ‘cruiser’ tanks..can be automatically swung in any direction.
1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo v. 98 The rhino~catchers were used to taking their transport across country at which a cruiser tank might have balked.
cruiser-weight n. Boxing for professionals: a weight of more than 11 stone 6 lb. but not exceeding 12 stone 7 lb.; for amateurs: a weight of more than 11 stone 11 lb. but not exceeding 12 stone 10 lb.; light heavyweight; a boxer of this weight; also attributive.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > boxer > of specific weight
welter1804
lightweight1817
middleweight1847
heavyweight1857
light middleweight1885
light-heavyweight1887
featherweight1889
light-heavy1892
light welterweight1892
welter weight1896
light welter1904
super heavyweight1907
middle1908
fly-weight1911
heavy1913
superheavy1917
cruiser-weight1920
light flyweight1922
cruiser1928
mini-flyweight1971
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting sports > boxing > [noun] > weight > weight division
lightweight1817
bantam weight1884
light middleweight1885
featherweight1889
light-heavyweight1891
light-heavy1895
fly-weight1911
cruiser-weight1920
light flyweight1922
1920 Boxing 25 Feb. 96/2 Two cruiser-weights..engaged in a 15 rd. side stake match.
1920 Boxing 13 Oct. 163/3 Carpentier..wants the world's cruiser-weight title.
1922 Daily Mail 11 Nov. 11 Jack Bloomfield, the cruiser-weight champion.
1923 Daily Mail 10 Jan. 9 He will go for the cruiser-weight trophy.
Draft additions December 2016
Chiefly U.S. A type of bicycle with large tyres and long handlebars, frequently associated with surf culture; = beach cruiser n. at beach n. Additions.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [noun] > cycle > bicycle > other types of bicycle
forty-four1821
roadster1875
rear-steerer1882
pneumatic1890
path-racer1896
featherweight1901
free-wheeler1908
fairy cycle1920
superbike1935
sit-up-and-beg1939
bakfiets1956
high-riser1965
all-terrain cycle1970
chopper1971
mountain bike1972
shopper1973
mixte1975
BMX1978
cruiser1978
ojek1983
boda boda1995
e-bike1998
fixie2001
ghost bike2004
1978 Pop. Mech. Jan. 115/1 A number of California youngsters..have settled on what's generally referred to as ‘cruisers’. These are older fat-tired bikes, usually without fenders.
1996 Inc. Apr. 80/1 A high-end cruiser with a comfortable seat, upright handlebars, and fenders.
2011 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 4 Dec. f3 I now have a bright blue cruiser that makes me smile every time I see it.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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