Word.ws English Dictionary

coxswain

/ˈkɒkˌsweɪn/UK/ˈkɒk.s(ə)n/

coxswain noun: in a ship's boat, the helmsman given charge of the boat's crew.

coxswain: in a ship's boat, the helmsman given charge of the boat's crew
Image: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

coxswain (plural coxswains)

  1. In a ship's boat, the helmsman given charge of the boat's crew.
  2. The member of a crew who steers the shell and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers.
  3. (archaic) The second or third mate of a vessel, in charge of the master's barge.
  4. A rank or position.
    • Canadian Navy Coxswain (or Capitaine d'Armes) is the senior non-commissioned officer aboard a ship
    • British Royal Navy Cadets Cadet Coxswain is the highest normal rank which may be achieved.

Verb

coxswain (third-person singular simple present coxswains, present participle coxswaining, simple past and past participle coxswained)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To act as coxswain for.
    • to coxswain for a college rowing team
    • to coxswain a boat

coxswain meaning in Malayalam and Pashto

coxswain in Malayalam

തുഴവഞ്ചിയിലെ അമരക്കാരൻ, കപ്പലിൻറെ അമരക്കാരൻ

coxswain in Pashto

coxswain
ماڼو māṇo

Forms of coxswain

Noun
pluralcoxswains
alternative formcockswain
Verb
third-person singular presentcoxswains
present participlecoxswaining
past participlecoxswained
pastcoxswained

Origin of coxswain

From Middle English cokswain, equivalent to cock (“small boat”) + swain (“boy, servant”).

Words formed from coxswain

Words that rhyme with coxswain

Questions about coxswain

What does coxswain mean?
Coxswain means in a ship's boat, the helmsman given charge of the boat's crew.
What is coxswain in Malayalam?
Coxswain in Malayalam is തുഴവഞ്ചിയിലെ അമരക്കാരൻ, കപ്പലിൻറെ അമരക്കാരൻ. See Coxswain meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is coxswain?
Coxswain can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce coxswain?
Coxswain is pronounced /ˈkɒk.s(ə)n/ (UK).
What is the plural of coxswain?
The plural of coxswain is coxswains.

Words near coxswain in the dictionary

  1. coxsackies
  2. coxsackieviral
  3. coxsackievirus
  4. coxsackieviruses
  5. coxsakievirus
  6. coxswain
  7. coxswained
  8. coxswaining
  9. coxswains
  10. Coxwell
  11. Coxwells

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coxswain (page history and authors); coxswain (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ماڼو (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-coxswain.ogg.

Cite this entry: “coxswain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coxswain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.