boat

Meaning

Noun

1. 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.
2. (slang) A full house.
3. A conveyance, utensil, or dish somewhat resembling a boat in shape.
4. (informal) A large and heavy car; the term connotes wasteful size.
5. (physical) One of two possible conformations of cyclohexane rings (the other being chair), shaped roughly like a boat.
6. (Australian, informal) The refugee boats arriving in Australian waters, and by extension, refugees generally.
7. In Conway’s Game of Life, a particular still life consisting of a dead cell surrounded by five living cells.
8. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of BOAT.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To travel by boat.
2. (transitive) To transport in a boat.
3. (obsolete, slang, transitive) To transport (deport to a penal colony).
4. (transitive) To place in a boat.

Synonyms

ship

🚢

vessel

canoe

🛶

raft

barge

craft

dinghy

watercraft

skiff

launch

gravy holder

gravy boat

yacht

steamboat

steamship

yawl

gig

sauceboat

small craft

dhoney

wherry

knock

barque

shallop

longship

sail

push

sailboat

⛵

pull out

plane

small vessel

nave

throw

pluck off

steamer

cutter

junk

seedpod

shell

🐚

shipboard

shipping

sloop

small

small boat

small ship

smock

train

🚋

yawn

barc

go boating

Translations

bateau

Boot

⛵

barca

⛵

barco

⛵

bote

⛵

boot

⛵

barco

⛵

barca

βάρκα

battello

⛵

barque

lancha

⛵

Schiff

Kahn

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bəʊt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bot

Inherited from Old English: bāt

Cognate with Old Norse: beit

Cognate with Middle Dutch: beitel

Cognate with Old Norse: bátr

Cognate with Icelandic: bátur

Cognate with Norwegian: båt

Cognate with Danish: båd

Cognate with Dutch: boot

Cognate with German: Boot

Cognate with Occitan: batèl

Cognate with French: bateau

In summary

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 (dolbljónka) (< долби́ть (dolbítʹ)), Russian чёлн (čoln) (akin to коло́ть (kolótʹ)).

Sentences

They rented a boat and went down the river .

Bail the boat to stop it from sinking .

I think we can do better after the boat sails .

A lakeside hotel with three people rowing a boat in the lake .