boat

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to ride in a boat on water

   We boat a lot in the summer months.

2. 2
   noun

   A craft used for transportation of goods, fishing, racing, recreational cruising, or military use on or in the water, propelled by oars or outboard motor or inboard motor or by wind.

   Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

3. 3
   noun

   A conveyance, utensil, or dish somewhat resembling a boat in shape.

   a stone boat;   a gravy boat

4. 4
   noun

   A large and heavy car; the term connotes wasteful size.

   Near-synonyms: land yacht, sled

5. 5
   noun

   In Conway’s Game of Life, a particular still life consisting of a dead cell surrounded by five living cells.

   It creates 4 blocks, a boat, and a glider every 768 generations.

6. 6
   verb

   To transport in a boat.

   to boat goods

7. 7
   verb

   To transport (deport to a penal colony).

   Troy was 'boated' for seven years after being found guilty of burglary and robbery.

8. 8
   verb

   To place in a boat.

   to boat oars

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 (dolbljó…