Definitions

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

  • noun A person who hides aboard a ship or other conveyance in order to obtain free passage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who, in order to secure a free passage, conceals himself aboard an outward-bound vessel, with the hope of remaining undiscovered until too late to be sent ashore.

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

  • noun One who conceals himself board of a vessel about to leave port, or on a railway train, in order to obtain a free passage.

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

  • noun a person who hides on board a ship, train, etc. so as to get a free passage

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

  • noun a person who hides aboard a ship or plane in the hope of getting free passage
  • verb hide aboard a ship or a plane to get free transportation

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Dressed as a dead man in a giant's suit, the golem escapes the country in a coffin, keeping alive hope -- and a 19-year-old stowaway from the Germans.

    Books: Golems And Superheroes 2008

  • A few hours later, after being interrogated by the ships security officer to whom she said nothing, and officially identified as a stowaway, Courtney found herself alone in a hospital-like room toward the stern of the ship.

    Pendragon: Book Eight: The Pilgrims of Rayne D. J. MacHale 2007

  • He'd had to make a drastic change in his estimate of the situation the instant he saw that the stowaway was a girl.

    This World Is Taboo Murray Leinster 1935

  • A stowaway is a stowaway, no matter how you look at him.

    West Wind Drift George Barr McCutcheon 1897

  • The story was written as a cautionary tale to advise boys like Dick never to go to sea as a stowaway, which is effectually what Dick did, and was inspired by a real case, in which the boy was found dying after only thirteen days at sea.

    Dick Cheveley His Adventures and Misadventures William Henry Giles Kingston 1847

  • By the way, after the coal had been shovelled off the train by the 'stowaway' miners, the

    When the Coal Blew Away 1998

  • By the way, after the coal had been shovelled off the train by the 'stowaway' miners, the Detective-Sergeant raced down to

    When the Coal Blew Away 1996

  • Later on they went to "Snow Lodge" and helped solve a mystery, while on the houseboat, _Bluebird_, where they spent one vacation, they found a "stowaway," and, if you want to know what that is, I advise you to read the book.

    The Bobbsey Twins at Home Laura Lee Hope

  • Sunday is Mr. Rogers 'pick of days for a lengthy hearing, and returning from church, he came directly to the "stowaway" rooms at the Murray Hill

    Frenzied Finance Vol. 1: The Crime of Amalgamated Thomas William Lawson 1891

  • An escaped convict from one of her Britannic Majesty's penal colonies, a "stowaway" in the hold of an Australian ship, he had landed penniless in San Francisco, fearful of contact with his more honest countrymen already there, and liable to detection at any moment.

    Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation Bret Harte 1869

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