raftsman

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   dated: a person who operates, travels on, or works aboard a raft

   The raftsman steered away from the rocks with a long oar.

2. 2
   noun

   historical: a worker who floats a raft of logs downstream for transport

   Each raftsman helped guide the timber safely toward the sawmill.

From raft + -s- + man, following compounds such as craftsman. The word was especially associated with nineteenth-century river transport, when workers guided timber rafts and other craft downstream.

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