From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmerchant seamanˌmerchant ˈseaman noun [countable] BOTTWa sailor in the merchant navy
Examples from the Corpus
merchant seaman• Meale, who began working life as a merchant seaman and was later an Aycliffe councillor, is unamused.• When he earned his law degree in 1933, he had already worked as a merchant seaman.• The 37-year-old merchant seaman killed Joyce after a night out ended in drunken violence. 