deckhandnoun [ C ]
uk/ˈdek.hænd/us/ˈdek.hænd/a person, usually unskilled, who works on a ship, but who does not serve the passengers or work in the engine room
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
People who work on boats & ships
- cabin crew
- crew member
- docker
- gondolier
- hand
- helmsman
- longshoreman
- mariner
- merchant seaman
- pilot
- punter
- run away to sea idiom
- sailor
- sea
- sea dog
- stevedore
- steward
- yachtsman
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Examples from literature
- But a deckhand who was cleaning some mops in the water had already rescued the umbrella.
- I've been deckhand and seaman and mate on more vessels than I can count—in every part of the uncivilized world.
- It was after five in the morning when the deckhands tried to get Craig to go down to his room.
- The packet swept past us, giving me a good deal the same glimpse into a different sort of life that a deckhand on a freighter has when he gazes at a liner ablaze with lights and echoing with music.
- When I backed out into the river the other night I had to leave four of my best deckhands either dead or wounded on the bank.