BEACHCOMBER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Beachcomber

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noun

beachcomber n. (Written also beach-comber or beach comber) (Naut.)

A vagrant seaman, usually of low character, who loiters about seaports, particularly on the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean. "I was fortunate enough, however, to forgather with a Scotchman who was a beach-comber."

A vagrant living on a beach.

A person who searches along a beach for objects of value, such as lost objects or seashells.

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Etymology of 'Beachcomber'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Beachcomber" Quotes from Famous Books

... away down the coast of New Ireland till I made Gerrit Denys Island, where I anchored for a couple of days, the natives being very friendly, and giving me all the fresh provisions I wanted for a little tobacco and some hoop-iron. There was an old white beachcomber named Billy living with them; he seemed to do pretty well as he liked, and had a deal of influence with them, not allowing any one of them to hang about the vessel after sunset, and each night he slept on board with me. I gave him a case of Hollands ...

— Yorke The Adventurer - 1901 • Louis Becke

... summer, or we shall know the reason why. For God's sake be well and jolly for the meeting. I shall be, I believe, a different character from what you have seen this long while. This cruise is up to now a huge success, being interesting, pleasant, and profitable. The beachcomber is perhaps the most interesting character here; the natives are very different, on the whole, from Polynesians: they are moral, stand-offish (for good reasons), and protected by a dark tongue. It is ...

— Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson - Volume 2 • Robert Louis Stevenson

Words linked to "Beachcomber" : floater, vagrant, vagabond, drifter