English

Noun

steersman ‎(plural steersmen)

1. (nautical) One who steers a ship or other vessel; the helmsman.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 53

     And as for a tiller, the whale-boat never admits of any such effeminacy; and therefore as in gamming a complete boat’s crew must leave the ship, and hence as the boat steerer or harpooneer is of the number, that subordinate is the steersman upon the occasion, and the captain, having no place to sit in, is pulled off to his visit all standing like a pine tree.

   • 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, “Regatta,”

     The Indian canoe races were the most exciting of all the Regatta. Ten paddles dipped as one paddle, ten men bent as one man, while the steersman kept time for them with grunting bows.

Synonyms

• (one who steers): helmsman, sternsman

Coordinate terms

• (gender) steerswoman

Related terms

• steer

Translations

Anagrams

• mare's nest, mare's-nest