highwayman

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical: an armed robber, typically on horseback, who stopped and robbed travelers on public roads

   The coachman feared that a highwayman might be waiting beyond the next bend.

A compound of highway + man, established in the seventeenth century for an armed robber who preyed on travelers along major roads. The historical figure became a recurring subject of romantic legend, ballad, and fiction.

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