Standard Lemma guide

highwayman

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada: /ˈhaɪˌweɪmən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person, usually mounted on horseback, who robbed travelers on public roads.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a holdup man who stops a vehicle and steals from it

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: highjacker, hijacker, road agent

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: holdup man, stickup man

Narrower terms: footpad, padder, Turpin, Dick Turpin

History

Etymology

From highway + man.

Across languages

Translations

50 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: قاطِعُ طَرِيق (qāṭiʕu ṭarīq) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Arabic: قُطّاعُ ٱلطُّرُق (quṭṭāʕu ṭ-ṭuruq) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Bashkir: юлбаҫар (yulbaśar) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Bengali: ঠগী (ṭhogi) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Catalan: bandoler — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Catalan: lladre de camí ral — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Chinese Mandarin: 攔路強盜 /拦路强盗 (lánlù qiángdào) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Czech: loupežník — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Czech: zbojník — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Danish: landevejsrøver — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Dutch: struikrover — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Estonian: maanteeröövel — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Estonian: teeröövel — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Finnish: maantierosvo — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • French: bandit de grand chemin — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • French: brigand — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • French: malandrin — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • German: Wegelagerer — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • German: Straßenräuber — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Greek: ληστής (listís) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Hungarian: útonálló — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Hungarian: betyár — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Icelandic: vegaræningi — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Icelandic: stigamaður — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Irish: gadaí bóthair — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Italian: ladrone — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Italian: bandito — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Italian: brigante — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Italian: masnadiere — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Italian: predone — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Korean: 노상강도 (nosanggangdo) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Latin: latro — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Latin: latrunculus — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Macedonian: дру́мски ра́збојник (drúmski rázbojnik) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Macedonian: а́јдук (ájduk) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Norman: voleux d'grand'c'mîn — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Norwegian Bokmål: landeveisrøver — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Norwegian Bokmål: stratenrøver — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Portuguese: salteador — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Portuguese: pirata do asfalto — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Romanian: tâlhar de drum mare — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Romanian: bandit — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Romanian: hoț la drumul mare — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Russian: разбо́йник с большо́й дороги (razbójnik s bolʹšój dorogi) — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Spanish: bandolero — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Spanish: salteador — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Spanish: tenedor de caminos — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Swedish: stråtrövare — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Welsh: lleidr pen ffordd — person who robbed travelers on roads
  • Welsh: carn-lleidr — person who robbed travelers on roads
Real reading context

highwayman in complete knowledge articles