| refugees who have fled a country by boat, usually without sufficient provisions, navigational aids, or a set destination, esp. those who left Indochina by sea as a result of the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. |
| boat people pl.n. Refugees, usually political ones, who attempt to flee from their native country to other countries by boat: "hundreds of thousands of boat people descending on the nation, arms outstretched in need" (Jerry Adler). |