deckhand

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a member of a ship or boat crew who performs manual work on deck

   The deckhand secured the ferry to the landing with a heavy rope.

2. 2
   verb

   to work on a boat as a deckhand

   She deckhanded on a riverboat during the summer.

A compound of deck + hand, using hand in the occupational sense 'a worker or member of a crew.' The nautical noun is attested from the nineteenth century; the verb developed from the occupation name.

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