fisherman

Etymology

fisher +‎ -man.

Noun

fisherman (plural fishermen)

1. A fisher, a person engaged in fishing:
   1. Any person who attempts to catch fish.

      The fisherman cast his line.

      • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

        Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

   2. A person whose profession is catching fish.

      He is a fisherman, out on a trawler for days at a time.

2. A boat used for commercial fishing.
   • 1938, Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips, Cromwell's Captains‎, page 196:

     They tortured and put to death English factors in the Spice Islands; they descended upon the fisheries of the North Sea in huge fleets escorted by men-of-war that attacked and sank the fishermen of other nations

   • 1987, John Rousmaniere, ‎Cruising Club of America. Technical Committee, Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts‎, page 26:

     Such boats should not have been fast, but the better fishermen — particularly John Alden's designs - […] won a big share of the offshore and coastwise races