[f. FREIGHT v. + -ER1.]
1. ‘One who loads a ship, or one who charters and loads a ship’ (W.).
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 138. And hereupon C.D the Merchant and Fraightor, doth likewise couenant with the said Master … that he … will lade or cause to be laden (within the dayes limited) the said Ship.
1665. Pepys, Diary, 22 March. Sir William Petty, and abundance of most ingenious men, owners and freighters of ‘the Experiment,’ now going with her two bodies to sea.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. vii. 70. The Freighter, who was a Mahometan, delayed paying the Freight, long after it was due by the Tenor of the Charter-party.
1848. Arnould, Mar. Insur. (1866), I. I. iii. 56–7. It was stipulated by the charter-party that the freighters should pay for the use of the ship.
b. One who consigns goods for carriage inland.
1872. Daily News, 2 Oct., 4. It was resolved that a freighters’ association be established, having for its object the assimilation and check of railway charges.
1882. Edin. Rev., Oct., 458. What the public service demands is, that freighters and manufacturers should be allowed to choose for themselves.
2. One whose business it is to receive and forward freight.
1714. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1728), I. 205. Having nothing of their own but Fish, they [the Dutch] are Carriers and Freighters to the rest of the World.
1884. American, IX. 22 Nov., 110/1. I have seen several lying under bushes while the sun was shining brightly, and upon inquiry found they were ‘night herders,’ or men employed by the freighters to look after the mules during the night to prevent their straying off.
3. A vessel for transporting goods, a cargo vessel.
1878. N. H. Bishop, Voy. Paper Canoe, 278. Though now a bark and not a steamer, though a freighter and not a royal yacht, the Rurik looked every inch a government vessel.
1893. W. J. Gordon, The Way of the World at Sea, iii., in The Leisure Hour, XLII. April, 389/2. Our mail boats are becoming meat ships, and what the trade is expected to be like in the immediate future is shown by some of the newer vessels having stowage of 70,000 carcasses. They are large ships of course, but then our ships get larger whether they are freighters or expresses.
