lodesman

Alternative forms

• loadsman
• lodeman, loadman

Etymology

From Middle English lodesman, lodesmon, lodysman (“pilot”, literally “lode's or course's man”), alteration of earlier lodeman, from Old English lādmann (“a leader, guide”), equivalent to lode (“way, course”) +‎ -s- +‎ man. Compare to lodemanage.

Noun

lodesman (plural lodesmen)

1. (historical, nautical) A pilot; navigator.
   • 2009, Erastus C. Benedict, The American Admiralty:

     River and harbor pilotage, in English maritime affairs, is called loadmanage, from loadsman or lodesman, a kind of pilot established for the safe conduct of ships and vessels in and out of harbors, or up and down navigable rivers.

   • 2011, Anne Crawford, Yorkist Lord: John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, c. 1425 -1485:

     For much of the Middle Ages, ships had only three ranks of seamen: master, lodesman or navigator, and mariner.

   • 2014, Neil Jones, Paul Ridgway, Light Through a Lens:

     Such has always been the importance of preserving the life and cargo carried by ships that pilots (or 'lodesmen') have been employed for centuries as freelance mariners.

References

• “lodesman”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Mendolas, Molendas, loadsmen, salmoned, sand mole