man-of-warn.
/ˌmanəvˈwɔː/, /ˌmanəˈwɔː/, U.S. /ˈˌmænəˈwɔr/ 1. A fighting man; a soldier or warrior. Now archaic or humorous.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > [noun]
wyec900
rinkeOE
earlOE
manlOE
champion?c1225
warrer?c1225
drightmanc1275
here-dringc1275
here-gumec1275
here-kempec1275
wal-kempc1275
warrior1297
battlerc1300
fighterc1300
battle-wrighta1400
man-of-war1449
frekec1475
war-manc1485
combatant1489
Mars1565
warfarer1591
combater1598
Mavortian1598
brave1601
fire-eater1792
war-wolf1810
war-hound1812
war-dog1846
toa1860
Mavors1868
fightist1877
ninja1964
simba1964
1449 Rolls of Parl. V. 148/1 They desired to have nombre of Men of werre made lesse.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 25 There sholde no man of warre ryde.
a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Adv. 19.2.3) i. l. 587 Alexander..Wiþ his oste, as man of were.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 215 Had thai bene prouuait sa of schote of gvne, By men of were but perile thay had past.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. xv. 3 The Lorde is the right man of warre [1611 a man of warre (lit. from Hebrew)].
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 114v Souldiers, and men of warr, desire a fierse Horse.
1608 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1876) I. 287 The saidis bailleis,..bieing convenit for outreiking of thair men of weir to thair Ilis..hes delyverit the armour following,..to the said men of weir..viz. to Jhone Hammiltoun ane hagbit and flassis [etc.].
1626 C. Potter tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Quarrels 330 The Leuies of men of Warre within the State of Milan euery day increased.
1699 G. Farquhar Love & Bottle i. 3 I dread these blustring Men of War, the Officers.
1723 H. Rowlands Mona Antiqua Restaurata i. 80 It was no longer time for them, to..cry, Immunes bello, that they were no Votaries of Mars, no Men of War.
1840 W. M. Thackeray Catherine vi The men of war had clearly the best of it.
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone III. xvi. 241 The distinguished man of war..Master Bloxham.
1963 Times 18 May 4/6 Man for man they may be as strong as Yorkshire, but they are not, to the same extent, ‘men of war’.
2. † b. = man-of-war's-man n. at sense 2c. Obsolete. rare.
a. A vessel equipped for warfare; a commissioned warship belonging to the recognized navy of a country.Now chiefly historical (referring to sailing vessels), but still current in the U.S. Navy.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun]
great shipa1400
ship-of-war1479
man-of-war1484
warship1533
war-man1546
rostrum1782
U.S.S.a1912
warcraft1918
tin can1937
1484 W. Cely Let. 17 Mar. in Cely Lett. (1975) 203 As he cam to Callesward, ij men off warre off Frensche mett wyth hym and ffawghte wyth hym.
1594 E. Glenham Newes from Levane Seas in J. P. Collier Illustr. Old Eng. Lit. (1866) I. 4 In sight of the King of Spaynes men of warre, which were twenty two sayles.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 27 July (1970) II. 142 Going in a hired vessell from Rye, and not in a man-of-Warr.
1680 Deb. in Parl. (1681) 120 It [sc. Tangier] will always be Serviceable, as well for our Men of War to resort to..as for the protection of our Merchant-men.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. x. 415 At Canton..we saw no more than four men of war junks.
1759 Ann. Reg. 1758 36 A fresh water harbour, capable of containing an hundred men of war of the line.
1782 G. White Jrnl. 14 Nov. (1970) xv. 215 Lord Howe arrived at Portsmouth with 16 men of war.
1859 All Year Round 24 Sept. 519 The man-of-war brig.
1887 W. Besant World Went iii. 28 If he who has commanded a man-of-war is not to have his own way in everything, who should?
1926 Blackwood's Mag. Dec. 823/2 On board a British man-of-war.
1975 J. V. Noel & E. L. Beach Naval Terms Dict. (ed. 3) 175 Most commissioned vessels of the [U.S.] Navy are men-of-war, but not all, e.g., a hospital ship.
1992 B. Morgan Random Passage xvi. 215 Vessels of every kind: tiny shallops, a fifty-gun man-of-war, frigates, whalers.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > seafaring warrior or naval man > [noun]
water?1570
man-of-war1599
navy-man1679
man-of-war's-man1745
blue jacket1776
ocean-warrior1801
blue1806
web foot1846
gobby1883
nautic1909
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 27 Hee is first broken to the Sea in the Herring mans Skiffe..once hartned thus, hee will needes be a man of warre..and weare a siluer Whistle.
1884 ‘H. Collingwood’ Under Meteor Flag xxiv. 258 My father..led the way to the library, with the skipper following... When the man-o'-war rejoined us, the first thing he did was [etc.].
c. man-of-war's-man n. a sailor serving on a warship or other fighting vessel. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > seafaring warrior or naval man > [noun]
water?1570
man-of-war1599
navy-man1679
man-of-war's-man1745
blue jacket1776
ocean-warrior1801
blue1806
web foot1846
gobby1883
nautic1909
1745 S. Williams Diary 26 Aug. in L. E. de Forest Louisbourg Jrnls. (1932) 136 Sergt Newcome..dyd this day, as did 4 of the man of warrs men, out of the Hospitall.
1774 J. Andrews Let. 30 Dec. in Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1866) 8 392 Partaking of the extreem ill qualities of a soldier as well as that of a man-of-war's man.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xx. 60 [He] was a singular mixture of the man-of-war's-man and Puritan.
1875 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. (ed. 2) v. 152 A man-of-war's man should lose no opportunity of volunteering to lay out targets.
1887 W. S. Gilbert Ruddigore i, in Orig. Plays (1909) 3rd Ser. 238 Your honour, I'm a poor man-o'-war's man, becalmed in the doldrums.
1918 Marines Mag. July 58 He's forsaken his old calling, Clerking, building, ranching, hauling, To become a man-o'-warsman, fit and well.
1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Feb. 124/4 ‘Matelot’ is undoubtedly the French for sailor, but we are not told that it is the English man-of-war's-man's name for himself.
1980 P. O'Brian Surgeon's Mate viii. 249 To get into Grimsholm you have to look like sloppy-joes, not like man-of-war's men.
3. More fully man-of-war bird, †man-of-war hawk. Any of various seabirds, esp. predatory ones which attack other seabirds in order to steal their food; spec. (a) a frigate bird; (b) U.S. the Arctic skua, Stercorarius parasiticus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Pelecaniformes > [noun] > fregata aquila (frigate-bird)
alcatras1584
man-of-war hawk1657
albatross1733
frigate-bird1738
sea-eagle1845
sea-hawk1852
hurricane-bird1879
son-of-the-sun1895
the world > animals > birds > order Procellariiformes > [noun] > family Diomedeidae (albatross)
man-of-war hawk1657
albatross1681
gony1839
bluebird1867
the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > [noun] > genus Stercorarius (skuas or jaegers) > member of
man-of-war hawk1657
sea-eagle1668
sea-hen1676
skua1678
skua-gull1768
1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 61 There is a Bird they call, a Man of war, and he is much bigger than a Heron.
1707 H. Sloane Voy. Islands I. 30 We saw here several Tropick-Birds, and Men of War Birds.
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. iii. 483 The Man-of-war Bird; or the dark-coloured Alcyon with a slender forked tail.
1796 H. Wansey Jrnl. Excursion to U.S. 194 Of some kinds of birds they have great plenty, such as robins, swallows, cat birds, and king birds, or men of war, as some call them.
1862 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. (new ed.) II. 762 The well-known Frigate Bird, Sea Hawk, or Man-of-War Bird.
1876 H. Melville Clarel II. iii. ix. 337 Nor man-of-war-hawk sole in sky O'er lonely ship sends lonelier cry.
1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) IV. 184 The ‘man-of-war hawk’, as they [sc. frigate birds] are often called.
1898 O. Davie Nests & Eggs N. Amer. Birds (1900) 26 The Parasitic Jaeger..is eminently rapacious, and it is known as the ‘Man-of-War’, from its habits of pursuing and robbing the terns and smaller gulls.
1906 W. L. Sclater Birds S. Afr. IV. 495 The ‘Cape Sheep’, ‘Great Albatros’, ‘Man of War Bird’ and ‘Goney’ are all names which are sometimes applied to this bird [sc. the wandering albatross].
1946 L. A. Hausman Field Bk. Eastern Birds 301 Stercorarius parasiticus... Man-of-War... This species seems to victimize the Kittiwake Gull on the fishing banks more than the others.
1949 M. Lowry Let. May (1967) 178 I think he [sc. H. Melville] is confusing it with his man-of-war bird, the frigate bird.
1952 E. Hemingway Old Man & Sea 30 He saw a man-of-war bird with his long black wings circling in the sky.
1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. c5/1 A properly flown chute is a thing of beauty, at least equal to the form and grace of a soaring man-of-war bird.
4. Mining. A pillar of coal left unworked to provide extra support, esp. in a thick seam.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > pillar or area of unworked material
forbar?15..
pillar1591
whole1728
stalch1747
post1793
stenting1812
rib1818
stook1826
man-of-war1835
spurn1837
staple1839
barrier1849
shaft pillar1855
barrier-pillar1881
stoop1881
stump1881
1835 J. Holland Hist. & Descr. Fossil Fuel, Collieries, & Coal Trade xi. 216 The two smaller [pillars]..are called by the miners ‘man of war’ pillars.
1848 Eng. & Foreign Mining Gloss. (S. Staffs. Terms) 107 Man-o'-war, a small pillar left in some critical situation in a side of work.
1920 A. H. Fay Gloss. Mining & Mineral Industry 419/1 Man-of-war, a small pillar of coal left in a critical spot; also, a principal support in thick coal workings.
5. Portuguese man-of-war: see Portuguese adj.
Compounds
C1. attributive. Designating (a part of) a child's sailor suit. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > other
smalleOE
lightc1230
round1402
side-necked1430
wanton1489
Spanish1530
tucked1530
lustya1555
civil1582
open-breasted1598
full1601
everlasting1607
sheeten1611
nothinga1616
burly1651
pin-up1677
slouching1691
double-breasted1701
negligée1718
translated1727
uniform1746
undress1777
single-breasted1796
unworn1798
mamalone1799
costumic1801
safeguard1822
Tom and Jerry1830
lightweight1837
fancy dress1844
wrap-1845
hen-skin1846
Mary Stuart1846
well-cut1849
mousquetaire1851
empire1852
costumary1853
solid1859
spring weight1869
Henri II1870
western1881
hard-boiled1882
man-of-war1883
Henley1886
demi-season1890
Gretchen1890
toreador1892
crossover1893
French cut1896
drifty1897
boxy1898
Buster Brown1902
Romney1903
modistic1907
Peter Pan1908
classic1909
Fauntleroy1911
baby doll1912
flared1928
flare1929
tuck-in1929
unpressed1932
Edwardian1934
swingy1937
topless1937
wraparound1937
dressed-down1939
cover-up1942
Sun Yat-sen1942
utility1942
non-utility1948
sudsable1951
off-the-shoulder1953
peasant1953
flareless1954
A-line1955
matador1955
stretch1956
wash-and-wear1959
layered1962
Tom Jones1964
Carnaby Street1965
Action Man1966
Mao-style1967
wear-dated1968
thermal1970
bondage1980
swaggery1980
hoochie1990
mitumba1990
kinderwhore1994
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > set or suit of clothes > [adjective] > other
spatterdashed1848
Prince Albert1873
white tie1876
two-piecec1880
man-of-war1883
coat and skirt1895
Lovat1895
plus four1921
black tie1933
Savile Row1972
vested1976
1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack xx. 140 I had this very day put on the new suit of clothes..which had been cut out in the true man-of-war fashion.]
1883 in L. de Vries Victorian Advts. (1968) 49 Man-o'-war suit. Complete 10/9.
1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 5 Apr. 2/5 (advt.) Stylish summer hats for little boys and girls... Duck man-o-war hats tams.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 332 His little man-o'-war top and unmentionables were full of sand.
1965 P. Cunnington & A. M. Buck Children's Costume in Eng. 183 There was the man-o'-war suit..complete with lanyard, knife and good conduct stripes.
C2.
man-of-war fish n. a small tropical marine fish, Nomeus gronovii (family Nomeidae or Stromateidae), which when young lives among the tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war.
ΚΠ
1905 D. S. Jordan Guide Study of Fishes II. 285 Gobiomorus gronovii (usually called Nomeus gronovii), the Portuguese man-of-war-fish, is a neat little fish about three inches long.
1957 Encycl. Brit. IX. 320/2 Several peculiar pelagic species are usually placed near this family [sc. Stromateidae], e.g. the little banded man-of-war fish (Nomeus gronovii), which accompanies the Portuguese man-of-war.
1985 A. Wheeler World Encycl. Fishes 264/2 The man-o'-war fish has long been known for its association with the..Portuguese man-o'-war.
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes xv. 267/1 Juveniles of the man-of-war fish..live with impunity among and even feed on the stinging tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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