midshipman

noun (plural midshipmen)

• 1a rank of officer in the Royal Navy, above naval cadet and below sub lieutenant.

  [ early 17th century: so named because the officer was stationed amidships]
• a naval cadet in the US navy.

• 2an American toadfish with dorsal and anal fins that run most of the length of the body and rows of light organs on the underside.

  • Genus Porichthys, family Batrachoididae: two or three species