caïque

or ca·ique

[ kah-eek ]

noun
  1. a single-masted sailing vessel used on the eastern Mediterranean Sea, having a sprit mainsail, a square topsail, and two or more other sails.

  2. a long, narrow rowboat used on the Bosporus.

Origin of caïque

1
1615–25; <French <Italian caicco<Turkish kayιk; replacing caik<Turkish kayιk

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use caïque in a sentence

  • Caiques carrying merchants to their homes somewhere along the upper shores were burnished with the aureate hue.

    The Ship Dwellers | Albert Bigelow Paine
  • Caiques flit to and fro, as if shuttles weaving the sundered parts of the city together.

    Constantinople painted by Warwick Goble | Alexander Van Millingen
  • Further out in the stream are other caiques, bound for more distant places, some with a passenger or two, others without.

  • Guards of honour were seen in all directions as the Royal party passed in caiques up the river.

    The Life of King Edward VII | J. Castell Hopkins
  • The glowing river was covered with sparkling caiques, the glittering terraces with showy groups.

    Alroy | Benjamin Disraeli

British Dictionary definitions for caïque

caïque

/ (kaɪˈiːk) /


noun
  1. a long narrow light rowing skiff used on the Bosporus

  2. a sailing vessel of the E Mediterranean with a sprit mainsail, square topsail, and two or more jibs or other sails

Origin of caïque

1
C17: from French, from Italian caicco, from Turkish kayik

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012