Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A customs officer who boards incoming ships at a harbor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of a class of custom-house officers whose business it is to await the arrival of ships, and to see that while in port the customs regulations as to the landing and shipping of goods are observed, and the revenue laws are not violated.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A customhouse officer who watches the landing of goods from merchant vessels, in order to secure payment of duties.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
customs officer whooversees thelanding ofgoods frommerchant vessels in order to securepayment ofduties .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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'tidewaiter'; and, as we know, the greatest poet of the day could only be rewarded by making him an exciseman.
The English Utilitarians, Volume I. Leslie Stephen 1868
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Leaving the army, C. held for a time a commission in the mounted constabulary of Madras, and now he is a third class assistant tidewaiter in the Imperial Maritime Customs of China, with a salary as low as his spirits are high.
AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA Morrison, George Ernest, 1862-1920 1895
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Down the river there is a tidewaiter who was formerly professor of French in the Imperial University of St. Petersburg; and here in Chungking, filling the same humble post, is the godson of a marquis and the nephew of an earl, a brave soldier whose father is a major-general and his mother an earl's daughter, and who is first cousin to that enlightened nobleman and legislator the Earl of C.
AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA Morrison, George Ernest, 1862-1920 1895
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Down the river there is a tidewaiter who was formerly professor of French in the Imperial University of St. Petersburg; and here in Chungking, filling the same humble post, is the godson of a marquis and the nephew of an earl, a brave soldier whose father is a major-general and his mother an earl's daughter, and who is first cousin to that enlightened nobleman and legislator the Earl of C.
An Australian in China Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to Burma George Ernest Morrison 1891
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Madras, and now he is a third class assistant tidewaiter in the Imperial
An Australian in China Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to Burma George Ernest Morrison 1891
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It is true enough that a long course of corruption, beginning with the perjured peer and ending with the tidewaiter, had created a class of conditional loyalists, with nine-tenths of which the condition is always unfulfilled; while, in its very fulfilment, the other one-tenth has found but bitterness, the "sauce piquante" of their daily bread.
The Felon's Track History Of The Attempted Outbreak In Ireland, Embracing The Leading Events In The Irish Struggle From The Year 1843 To The Close Of 1848 Michael Doheny 1834
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From the noblemen who held the white staff and the great seal, down to the humblest tidewaiter and gauger, what would now be called gross corruption was practiced without disguise and without reproach.
The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1 Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay 1829
treeseed commented on the word tidewaiter
TheFreeDictionary.com
n.
A customs officer who boards incoming ships at a harbor.
January 31, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word tidewaiter
From the days when ships waited for the incoming tide to enter the harbor.
January 9, 2009