sailmaker

From Middle English *sayl-makere, equivalent to sail +‎ maker. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sailmoaker, West Frisian seilmakker, Dutch zeilmaker, German Low German Seilmaker, German Segelmacher, Danish sejlmager, Swedish segelmakare.

sailmaker (plural sailmakers)

1. One whose occupation is to make or repair sails.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 216:

     I knew once a Scotch sailmaker who was certain, dead sure, there were people in Mars.

2. (US, naval) An officer in the United States navy who takes charge of the sails.

• “sailmaker”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• malarkies