boat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small vehicle for travelling on water.

   We rowed the boat across the calm lake.

2. 2
   verb

   To travel or ride in a boat.

   We boat on the river every summer.

3. 3
   noun

   A dish shaped like a boat, used for serving sauce.

   Pass me the gravy boat, please.

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…

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