An inhabitant of the fens.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 491. Girvii, that is, as some interpret it, Fen-men or Fen-dwellers.
1611. Cotgr. s.v. Boeuf, As our fenne-men [say], rather catch a ducke than feed an Oxe.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 600. The Fen-Men hold, that the Sewers must be kept so, as the Water may not stay too long in the Spring, till the Weeds and Sedge be growne vp.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1776), I. 254. In winter, stares assemble in vast flocks: they collect in myriads in the fens of Lincolnshire, and do great damage to the fen men, by roosting on the reeds, and breaking them down by their weight.
1856. P. Thompson, Hist. Boston, 644. The fenmen … were, a century later, known as the Slodgers, or Fen-Slodgers.
1865. Kingsley, Herew. (1866), I. Prelude, 19. After the snow would come the keen frost and bright sun and cloudless blue sky, and the fenman’s yearly holiday, when, work being impossible, all gave themselves up to play.
