Meanings
plural bosuns · alternative bo'sun · alternative bo's'n · alternative bos'n
- alternativeAlternative form of boatswain (“warrant or petty officer on board a naval ship”).
They tied us up—the fellow who handled me could tie like a bosun—and there we lay with our toes up, beneath a tree, while a great brute stood guard over us with a club in his hand.
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna petty officer on a merchant ship who controls the work of other seamen
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Phonemic respelling of boatswain.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
bosun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bosun
“bosun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bosun. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bosun,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bosun.
Source: bosun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.