Hist. [OE. liðsmann, a. ON. liðsmað-r (accus. -mann), f. liðs, genit. of lið host + maðr MAN.] A sailor in the navy under the Danish kings of England.
11[?]. O. E. Chron., an. 1036 (Laud MS.). Þa liðs men on Lunden ʓecuron Harold to healdes ealles Engla landes.
1848. Petrie & Stev., Chron., 95. The thanes … and the ‘lithsmen’ at London.
1848. Lytton, Harold, III. ii. ‘The lithsmen of London,’ cried a Saxon thegn, ‘are all on his side, and marching already through the gates.’
1865. Kingsley, Herew. (1867), I. 11. He succeeded, by the help of the … lithsmen of London,… in setting his puppet on the throne.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. vi. 485. A new element, the ‘lithsmen,’ the nautic multitude of London.
