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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
midshipman
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And, recently, Aberdeen drill sergeants and Naval Academy midshipmen have been among its most celebrated inmates.
▪ Charles R.. Larson, the academy superintendent who ordered the court-martial, the midshipman will serve 60 days.
▪ Gary Roughead, 45, was endorsed as commandant of midshipmen by Adm.
▪ He transferred shortly afterwards to the Dragon as an able seaman, but in 1761 he joined the Arrogant as a midshipman.
▪ I too joined the navy as a midshipman and went to a variety of establishments for training.
▪ Kingston's three midshipmen are carefully chosen to satisfy the contemporary patriotic line.
▪ That ended a Navy investigation into student drug use, but implicated 24 midshipmen in the buying or use of drugs.
▪ The buildings, playing fields, 75 monuments, benches, even trees honor Naval heroes and distinguished classes of midshipmen.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
midshipman

Singing \Sing"ing\, a. & n. from Sing, v. Singing bird. (Zo["o]l.)

  1. Popularly, any bird that sings; a song bird.

  2. Specifically, any one of the Oscines.

    Singing book, a book containing music for singing; a book of tunes.

    Singing falcon or Singing hawk. (Zo["o]l.) See Chanting falcon, under Chanting.

    Singing fish (Zo["o]l.), a California toadfish ( Porichthys porosissimus), called also midshipman; -- so called because it produces a buzzing sound with its air bladder.

    Singing flame (Acoustics), a flame, as of hydrogen or coal gas, burning within a tube and so adjusted as to set the air within the tube in vibration, causing sound. The apparatus is called also chemical harmonicon.

    Singing master, a man who teaches vocal music.

    Singing school, a school in which persons are instructed in singing.

midshipman

Middy \Mid"dy\, n.; pl. Middies. A colloquial abbreviation of midshipman.

midshipman

Midshipman \Mid"ship`man\, n.; pl. Midshipmen.

    1. Formerly, a kind of naval cadet, in a ship of war, whose business was to carry orders, messages, reports, etc., between the officers of the quarter-deck and those of the forecastle, and render other services as required.

    2. In the English naval service, the second rank attained by a combatant officer after a term of service as naval cadet. Having served three and a half years in this rank, and passed an examination, he is eligible to promotion to the rank of lieutenant.

    3. In the United States navy, the lowest grade of officers in line of promotion, being students or graduates of the Naval Academy awaiting promotion to the rank of ensign.

  1. (Zo["o]l.) An American marine fish of the genus Porichthys, allied to the toadfish; also called singingfish.

    Cadet midshipman, formerly a title distinguishing a cadet line officer from a cadet engineer at the U. S. Naval Academy. See under Cadet.

    Cadet midshipman, formerly, a naval cadet who had served his time, passed his examinations, and was awaiting promotion; -- now called, in the United States, midshipman; in England, sublieutenant.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
midshipman

c.1600, originally so called because he was stationed amidships when on duty (see amid).

Wiktionary
midshipman

n. 1 (context nautical English) An officer of the lowest rank in several navy; ''especially'', a trainee officer. 2 (context nautical uncountable English) This officer rank. 3 A midshipman fish.

WordNet
midshipman

n. a temporary rank held by young naval officers in training

Wikipedia
Midshipman (horse)

Midshipman (foaled March 26, 2006, in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Owned by Stonerside Stable and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, as a two-year-old Midshipman won 3 of 4 starts, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Del Mar Futurity.

Two weeks before his run in the Breeders' Cup, Midshipman was sold to Darley Stable and as part of the sales agreement was transferred to trainer Saeed bin Suroor after the race.

The colt was a leading contender for the 2009 Triple Crown but fell off due to a 'soft tissue injury.'

Midshipman made his 3 year old debut in an allowance optional claiming race on Sept 18 at Belmont Park, which marked his first start on traditional dirt. He won by 3 lengths over co-favorite Just Ben.

Midshipman also ran in 2009's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, where he finished 3rd to the longest shot in the race, Farthest Land.

Midshipman (disambiguation)

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies.

Midshipman or midshipmen may also refer to:

  • Midshipman (horse), an American Thoroughbred racehorse
  • Midshipman fish, a member of the genus Porichthys of toadfishes
  • Navy Midshipmen, the sports teams of the United States Naval Academy
  • The Midshipman, a 1925 American silent film
Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet or a commissioned officer candidate of the junior-most rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.

In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where the original rating worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take the examination for lieutenant. Promotion to lieutenant was not automatic, and many midshipmen took positions as master's mates for an increase in pay and responsibility aboard ship. Midshipmen in the United States Navy were trained and served similarly to midshipman in the Royal Navy, although unlike their counterparts in the Royal Navy, a midshipman was a warrant officer rank until 1912.

During the 19th century, changes in the training of naval officers in both the Royal Navy and the United States Navy led to the replacement of apprenticeship aboard ships with formal schooling in a naval college. Midshipman began to mean an officer cadet at a naval college. Trainees now spent around four years in a college and two years at sea prior to promotion to commissioned officer rank. Between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, time at sea declined to less than a year as the entry age was increased from 12 to 18.

Ranks equivalent to midshipman exist in many other navies. Using US midshipman or pre-fleet board UK midshipman as the basis for comparison, the equivalent rank would be a naval cadet in training to become a junior commissioned officer. Using post-fleet board UK midshipman for comparison, the rank would be the most junior commissioned officer in the rank structure, and similar to a US ensign in role and responsibility. In many Romance languages, the literal translation of the local term for "midshipman" into English is "Navy Guard", including the French garde marine, Spanish guardia marina, Portuguese guarda-marinha, and Italian guardiamarina. Today, these ranks all refer to naval cadets, but historically they were selected by the monarchy, and were trained mostly on land as soldiers.

Usage examples of "midshipman".

During the following year, on his cruise to the Mediterranean, he was messmate with a midshipman named William Taylor, a young man of singularly fine character, which seems to have been the chief cause of the influence he exerted upon Farragut.

He noted also that, of the twelve or thirteen midshipmen there associated with him, in less than two years all but one, his old messmate Ogden, of the Essex, had disappeared from the navy.

Technically, no midshipman was authorized to operate or even maintain a motorcycle within twenty-two miles of the Academy--the most common cause of death for mids was traffic accidents.

Barkley, midshipman, one of the younger squeakers, and Joshua Spense, the Kingston man.

Then, retaining only fifty men as a guard to the battery, the midshipmen ordered the rest of the defenders of the abattis to move forward among the trees on the flanks of the Russians, keeping up a constant fire, until they joined the main body in their attack on the Russian rear.

But then no doubt the little midshipman had never imagined himself on an Abyssinian mountainside, with his rockets.

At this word Jack leant out for the backstay and shot down on deck like a midshipman, forgetting his dignity and laddering his fine white stockings.

Graduate Academy of Biosciences and his younger son, James, entered Starfleet Academy as a junior midshipman.

In my dress whites, accompanied by the chief petty officer and a midshipman, I inspected each crew berth and its occupants, who stood at attention while I coldly scrutinized lockers, bunks, and men, liberally dispensing demerits for infractions.

Canopus and Achernar high overhead, and Jack showed his attentive midshipmen the new constellations, Musca, Pavo, Chamaeleon and many more, all glowing in the warm, pellucid air.

The following afternoon, heralded by the shouted orders of Midshipman Brewer and the sound of oars creaking in their rowlocks, a boat from the Sirius came to Pinchgut Island.

As the ship was kept under her topsails and spanker, with two reefs down, no fresh sail was made, and the boatswain did not order the midshipmen to perform any duty.

He doubted that any midshipman ever really appreciated the fact that an officer candidate training officer who did his job properly wound up running almost as hard and as fast as his snotties did.

He swung round to scowl at the third midshipman, an undersized youngster who was peering through steel-rimmed spectacles at some pencilled calculations he had been making.

Halloran, Sublieutenant Henderson, Midshipmen Turnbull and Waldegrave.