0 someone who lives or works on a boat, usually on a river or a canal, or near the coast, for example fishing, renting out boats, or taking people across the water in a boat:
Restrictions on blue crab harvests in the bay forced the early close of the crabbing season yesterday for Maryland watermen.
Oyster harvesting provides another source of income for watermen if they run into hard times with fishing or crabbing.
As a river-dredger, waterman Hexam earned a precarious living scouring the Thames for any refuse he could pick up.
Generations of London families have undertaken a five-year apprenticeship, specific to the Thames, to become a waterman, who captains passenger vessels, or a lighterman, who handles freight.
