Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person unfamiliar with the sea or seamanship.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A person who, from want of experience, is awkward or lubberly on board ship; a raw seaman; any one unused to the sea: a term of reproach or ridicule among sailors.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Naut.) One who passes his life on land; -- so called among seamen in contempt or ridicule.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun nautical, pejorative Someone unfamiliar with the sea or seamanship, especially a novice seaman.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an inexperienced sailor; a sailor on the first voyage
  • noun a person who lives and works on land

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Extension (with land) of earlier lubber. Compare also landloper.

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Examples

  • The 'landlubber' might apply to other natives; but I fear they could hardly be called

    My New Curate P.A. Sheehan

  • It was a bitter disappointment to him that his father forbade his going to sea and was educating him to be a "landlubber," which he had been taught by his boy associates to regard as the most contemptible thing on earth.

    Boyhood in Norway 1892

  • It was a bitter disappointment to him that his father forbade his going to sea and was educating him to be a "landlubber," which he had been taught by his boy associates to regard as the most contemptible thing on earth.

    Boyhood in Norway Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen 1871

  • I noticed that he called me 'landlubber' very frequently, but I had no idea whether he meant to compliment or abuse me, though it seemed more likely to me that it was the latter.

    Cast Away in the Cold An Old Man's Story of a Young Man's Adventures, as Related by Captain John Hardy, Mariner 1856

  • The nautical accuracy of these tales of the sea could scarcely have been attained by a "landlubber".

    The Spy James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • “Walk away, landlubber, and dream of being a sea dog.”

    The Bushman Way of Tracking God PhD Bradford Keeney 2010

  • Smith, despite his lack of naval experience, had proved a surprisingly efficient First Lord in Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's government, but the comedic possibilities of a landlubber navy chief were too potent for Gilbert to resist.

    Gilbert & Sullivan, Parody's Patresfamilias Barrymore Laurence Scherer 2011

  • We would like to take Utanapishtim at his word, but it seems that he was a real landlubber, who knew little of shipbuilding.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • This will pretty much guarantee that your dog remains a landlubber.

    Video: Getting a Pup to Take the Plunge 2009

  • We would like to take Utanapishtim at his word, but it seems that he was a real landlubber, who knew little of shipbuilding.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

Comments

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  • Grass-comber, farmer.

    May 8, 2008