(nautical) One employed on, owning, or managing a lighter.
1622, Ben Jonson, The Masque of Augurs, The First Antimasque, in The Works of Ben Jonson, London: D. Midwinter et al., 1756, Volume 6, p. 122,
A poor lighterman, sir, one that hath had the honour sometimes to lay in the king’s beer there […]