swabber

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

swab +‎ -er

Noun

swabber (plural swabbers)

  1. One who swabs a floor or deck.
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 2
      The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
      The gunner, and his mate,
      Lov'd Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
      But none of us car'd for Kate: […]
  2. A baker's implement for cleaning ovens.
  3. (nautical, historical) An interior officer on British warships, responsible for seeing that the ship was kept clean.
  4. (card games) Four privileged cards, formerly used in betting in whist.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for swabber in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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