| 1. | a boat, esp. a paddle-wheel steamer, used as a traveling theater. |
| 2. | Informal. show-off (def. 1). |
| 3. | a person, esp. an athlete, who performs in an ostentatiously sensational manner calculated to draw attention; show-off. |
| 4. | to perform or behave in an outrageous or spectacular manner. |
showboat
floating theatre that tied up at towns along the waterways of the southern and midwestern United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring culture and entertainment to the inhabitants of river frontiers. The earliest of these entertainment boats were family-owned ventures into regions where theatres had not gone.
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