fisherman

Noun

fisherman (plural fishermen)

1. Any person who attempts to catch fish.
   • The fisherman casts her line.
   • Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
2. A person whose profession is catching fish.
   • He is a fisherman, out on a trawler for days at a time.
   • I knovv God by Miracle can inſtruct Kings, as he rained Mannah, and raiſed the Apoſtles from letterless Fiſher-men, to learned Metropolitans, and profound Doctours.1663, Edward Waterhous[e], chapter I, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, […], London: […] Tho[mas]...
3. A vessel (boat or ship) used for fishing.
   • They tortured and put to death English factors in the Spice Islands; they descended upon the fisheries of the North Sea in huge fleets escorted by men-of-war that attacked and sank the fishermen of other nations1938, Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips, Cromwell's Captains, page 196
   • Such boats should not have been fast, but the better fishermen — particularly John Alden's designs - […] won a big share of the offshore and coastwise races1987, John Rousmaniere, Cruising Club of America. Technical Committee, Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts, page 26