boatswain

/ˈbəʊ.sən/

Etymology

From Middle English botswain, botswein, bote-swayn, from late Old English bātsweġen, from bāt (“boat”) + sweġen (“swain”), the latter element a borrowing from Old Norse sveinn (“boy”); equivalent to boat + swain (“boy, servant”).

boatswain means A person aboard ship who is in charge of various maritime affairs.; The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 83 out of 100.

Why this word is great

BOATSWAIN — [Noun] A ship's officer responsible for the hull, rigging, anchors, and the crew executing deck operations. From Middle English botswain, from late Old English bātsweġen, from bāt ("boat") + sweġen ("servant, boy"), the latter from Old Norse sveinn ("boy, servant"). Unlike the clipped "bosun," its workaday echo in the shouts of the crew, or the specialized "coxswain," which denotes only a small-boat helmsman, "boatswain" is the title's full and sovereign form, bearing the weight of maritime law and tradition. He is the man with a silver whistle whose call cuts through the gale, the one who knows the precise lay of a hawser on a bollard, the timbre of wind in a specific shroud, and the exact moment a deck must be holystoned before dawn—the embodied principle that a vessel is kept afloat not by grand designs, but by relentless, salt-caked care.

noun

A person aboard ship who is in charge of various maritime affairs.; The officer (or warrant officer) in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, cables etc. and all work on deck of a sailing ship.
A person aboard ship who is in charge of various maritime affairs.; The petty officer of a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen.
A kind of gull, the jaeger.
The tropicbird.