Word
boat
US/ˈboʊt/
UK/bˈəʊt/
Definitions
01watercraft
n. a vehicle used for traveling on water, like a ship or a small rowing boat.
n. a vessel for transport by water, typically smaller than a ship but used broadly for various watercraft.
“We took a small boat out onto the lake to go fishing.”
“The fishing boat struggled against the rising swell as the crew raced to secure the nets before the storm broke.”
02serving dish
n. a small dish used for serving liquids like sauce or gravy.
n. a container or utensil resembling a boat in shape, specifically used for serving sauces.
“Please pass the gravy boat so I can pour some over my potatoes.”
“The waiter carefully placed a silver sauce boat on the table, filled with a rich reduction to accompany the roast.”
Synonyms
03large car
n. a very large, heavy, and often old car that is difficult to drive.
n. a large, heavy vehicle, often implying it is cumbersome or inefficient to handle.
“My grandfather still drives that old boat of a car from the seventies.”
“Navigating the narrow city streets in such a massive boat of a sedan proved nearly impossible for the novice driver.”
Informal
Synonyms
04astronomy
n. a name for the brightest flash of light ever seen in space.
n. an acronym for 'Brightest Of All Time', referring to the exceptionally luminous gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A.
“Astronomers were amazed by the BOAT, the brightest explosion ever recorded.”
“The detection of the BOAT challenged existing models of stellar collapse due to its unprecedented energetic output across the electromagnetic spectrum.”
Technical · Informal
05to travel by water
v. to travel or go somewhere using a boat.
v. to travel by boat; may also function transitively to mean the transport of goods via watercraft.
“We decided to boat across the river instead of taking the bridge.”
“They spent the summer boating along the coast, stopping at various small islands to explore the local wildlife.”
Etymology
From Middle English bot, boot, boet, boyt (“boat”), from Old English bāt (“boat”), from Proto-West Germanic bait, from Proto-Germanic baitaz, baitą (“boat, small ship”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰeyd- (“to break, split”) (whence also fissure via Latin). Cognate with Old Norse beit (“boat”), Middle Dutch beitel (“little boat”). Old Norse bátr (whence Icelandic bátur, Norwegian båt, Danish båd), Dutch boot, German Boot, Occitan batèl and French bateau are all ultimately borrowings from the Old English word. Compare typologically ship << Proto-Indo-European *skey-; Russian долблёнка (dolbljónka) (< долби́ть (dolbítʹ)), Russian чёлн (čoln) (akin to коло́ть (kolótʹ)).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Idioms
boy in the boat — The human clitoris.
float someone's boat — To interest or appeal to someone; to make someone happy.
fresh off the boat — Newly arrived from a foreign place, especially as an immigrant who is still unfamiliar with the customs and language of their new environment.
get in the boat and row — To make a substantial effort, especially in cooperation with others in a group; also, to perform one's share of work.
in the same boat — In the same situation or predicament; having the same problems.
lift all boats — To benefit all participants; to have a wide-ranging positive effect.
push the boat out — To do something, especially spend money, more extravagantly than usual, particularly for a celebration.
rock the boat — To disturb the status quo or go against rules or conventions, as in an effort to get attention.
row in the same boat — To be in the same or similar situation.
turn the boat — To make a major change in behavior, strategy, topic under discussion, etc.
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whatever floats your boat — One should do whatever stimulates one or suits one's inclinations.