The epithet for the captain or commander of a merchant vessel. When England first became a maritime power, ships with sailors, and a master to navigate, were furnished by the Cinque Ports, &c., and the fighting part of the men was composed of soldiers sent on board, commanded by generals, &c. Among the early voyagers there was a distinction between master and maister, the latter being the office; as, "we spoke the Dragon, whereof Master Ivie was maister," in Welsh's Voyage to Benin, A.D. 1590. In most applications, master denotes chief; as master boat-builder, master caulker, master sail-maker, &c.