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boat

[boht]

Origin

Valley Forge Tug Boat www.govliquidation.com U.S. Army Firefighting Tug Boat for Sale on www.GovLiquidation.com

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noun

a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.

a small ship, generally for specialized use: a fishing boat.

a small vessel carried for use by a large one, as a lifeboat: They lowered the boats for evacuation.

a ship.

a vessel of any size built for navigation on a river or other inland body of water.

EXPAND

a serving dish resembling a boat: a gravy boat; a celery boat.

Ecclesiastical. a container for holding incense before it is placed in the censer.

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

to go in a boat: We boated down the Thames.

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Boat is one of our favorite verbs.

So is lollygag. Does it mean:

to bark; yelp.

to spend time idly; loaf.

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verb (used with object)

to transport in a boat: They boated us across the bay.

10.

to remove (an oar) from the water and place athwartships. Compare ship (def. 8).

Idioms

11.

in the same boat, in the same circumstances; faced with the same problems: The new recruits were all in the same boat.

12.

miss the boat, Informal.

to fail to take advantage of an opportunity: He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college.

to miss the point of; fail to understand: I missed the boat on that explanation.

13.

rock the boat. rock² (def. 15).

Origin:
before 900; Middle English boot (noun), Old English bāt; cognate with Old Norse beit

Related forms

boat·a·ble, adjective

boat·less, adjective

Can be confused: barge, boat, canoe, cruise ship, sailboat, ship, yacht.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To boat

Collins

World English Dictionary

boat (bəʊt)

—n
1.	a small vessel propelled by oars, paddle, sails, or motor for travelling, transporting goods, etc, esp one that can be carried aboard a larger vessel
2.	(not in technical use) another word for ship
3.	navy a submarine
4.	a container for gravy, sauce, etc
5.	a small boat-shaped container for incense, used in some Christian churches
6.	in the same boat sharing the same problems
7.	burn one's boats See burn
8.	miss the boat to lose an opportunity
9.	informal (Brit) push the boat out to celebrate, esp lavishly and expensively
10.	informal rock the boat to cause a disturbance in the existing situation

—vb
11.	(intr) to travel or go in a boat, esp as a form of recreation
12.	(tr) to transport or carry in a boat

[Old English bāt; related to Old Norse beit boat]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

boat

O.E. bat "boat, ship, vessel," from P.Gmc. *bait- (cf. O.N. batr, Du. boot, Ger. Boot), possibly from PIE base *bheid- "to split" (see fissure), with the sense of making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk; or it may be an extension of the name for some part of a ship.

EXPAND

French bateau "boat" is from O.E. or O.N.

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

boat definition

n.
a big shoe. (See also gunboats.) : Those boats are special made, in fact.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

boat

see burn one's bridges (boats); in the same boat; miss the boat; rock the boat.