boat man—
1. a man who lends out small boats or rows one for pay:
- There he found a solitary boatman, whom he hailed, and was soon seated in his kayak.
2. a water-bug (Notonecta glauca), whose body resembles a boat:
- The boatman dives under the water, occasionally coming to the surface for a supply of air.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase boat person—(pl. boat people) a refugee who attempts to flee his country by putting out to sea in a small boat:
- There’s nothing wrong with being a boat person. The boat saved my life.
bumboat man—(pl. bumboat people) a person in a boat selling small merchandise to ships lying at a distance from the shore:
- A bumboat man sold him a dodgy camera without film on his first trip through the Suez Canal.