Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Either of the two persons who hold a surveyor's measuring chain.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun pl. chainmen (-men). A man who carries the chain used in surveying land; a chain-bearer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun surveying One who wields a
chain ormeasuring tape .
Etymologies
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Examples
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I had worked at various odd jobs in between— saw-mill hand, chainman on a surveying crow, and draftsman, for instance— and had travelled in North America, Europe and Asia.
Archive 2008-08-01 Chris Perridas 2008
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I had worked at various odd jobs in between— saw-mill hand, chainman on a surveying crow, and draftsman, for instance— and had travelled in North America, Europe and Asia.
Antiquarian Weird Tales: L Sprague de Camp (1950) Chris Perridas 2008
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The summer that I worked as a surveyor's chainman for my old high school math teacher, I discovered my disinterest in that sort of precision, and I rejoiced when the long, hot and sultry summer ended, allowing me to return to my college studies and more literary pursuits.
Spiders and Wasps Horace Jeffery Hodges 2005
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As if provided specially to meet the situation along had come Rutland's urgent wire to headquarters for a new chainman, one of his men having taken sick suddenly.
Every Man for Himself Hopkins Moorhouse
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It was too dark to see the birches clearly, but the ex-chainman for the Rutland survey party knew they were there and how they looked; he had seen hundreds of such growths.
Every Man for Himself Hopkins Moorhouse
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Buck was readily located in the country north of Arcata, and one of the operatives actually procured a job as chainman with his surveying gang, while the other kept Ogilvy and his secretary under surveillance.
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"Great Scott! what is that?" cried a surveyor's chainman, shading his eyes and gazing at the fading line of agriculturist which bisected his visible horizon.
INTERNET WIRETAP: The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce (1993 Edition) 1911
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He raised his compass and followed the chainman to the Doyles 'door.
The Man in Gray Thomas Dixon 1905
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Glover chose for his companions two men: Dancing -- far and away the best climber in the telegraph corps, and Smith Young, roadmaster, a chainman of Glover's when he ran the Pilot line.
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Young Spencer began his surveying work by carrying a flag, and soon he was advanced to "chainman."
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers, Volume 8 Elbert Hubbard 1885
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