1
: a sailor who has charge of a ship's boat and its crew and who usually steers
2
: a steersman of a racing shell who usually directs the rowers
coxswained; coxswaining; coxswains
: to direct as coxswain
: to act as coxswain
Examples of coxswain in a Sentence
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Jenna West, The Athletic, 6 Aug. 2024
Another Los Gatos boat that claimed silver medals was the Women’s Under 15 Quad-x with a coxswain.
—Phil Jensen, The Mercury News, 25 June 2024
Cecile Richards, Glamour, 11 May 2018
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Noun
When Paris hosted the Games in 1900, a pair of Dutch rowers asked a French boy to be their coxswain.
—Jenna West, The Athletic, 6 Aug. 2024
Another Los Gatos boat that claimed silver medals was the Women’s Under 15 Quad-x with a coxswain.
—Phil Jensen, The Mercury News, 25 June 2024
Verb
Watching her granddaughter Hannah pitch through a tough inning of softball or her granddaughter Lily coxswain for the rowing team was a marvel.
—Cecile Richards, Glamour, 11 May 2018
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Cite this Entry
“Coxswain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coxswain. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.
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