dutchman

From Dutchman. Attested mainly in the US from the late 19th century.

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dutchman (plural dutchmen)

1. (carpentry, masonry) A piece of wood or stone used to repair a larger piece, shaped such that it fills as exactly as possible a void or cavity that is to be repaired.
2. A flaw or void repaired with such a piece.
3. (theater) A cloth strip attached to a flat to conceal a joint.
4. (nautical) Ellipsis of Flying Dutchman (“a ghost ship”).

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Dutchman”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
• John Russell Bartlett (1884) Dictionary of Americanisms, page 196: “Dutchman. A flaw in a stone or marble slab, filled up by an insertion.”