matross

From Dutch matroos (“sailor, seaman”), essentially from French matelot (“seaman”), from Middle Dutch mattenoot. Compare German Matrose, Swedish matros, Danish matros, and Crimean Tatar matros.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məˈtɹɒs/

matross (plural matrosses)

1. (military, now historical) An artilleryman next in rank to a gunner; a gunner's mate, especially one who assists the gunners in loading, firing, and sponging the guns. [from 17th c.]
   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer, ch. 5:

     [T]he matrosses, in their annual gesture of amity, had torn the sky with the largest piece of ordnance in the Great Keep […] .

• Mastros, stroams, stromas