beachcomber
beachcomber Lexical Profile
beachcomber Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person who walks along beaches looking for driftwood, seashells, curiosities, or valuable items washed ashore.
"Early in the morning after the storm, a lone beachcomber walked along the tide line searching for intact shells and sea glass."
A vagrant, drifter, or loafer who lives on the seashore, historically a white settler living idly on Pacific islands.
"The novel tells the story of a nineteenth-century sailor who deserted his ship to live as a carefree beachcomber in the South Pacific."
A long, rolling ocean wave that breaks onto a beach.
"Surfers waited past the sandbar for the next big beachcomber to roll in from the open ocean."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in mid-19th-century American English, originally referring to a long ocean wave rolling onto a beach (as if combing it), and soon applied by sailors in the Pacific to drifters and settlers who lived along the shore by scavenging.