bumboat
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of bumboat
1665–75; probably partial translation of Dutch bomschuit a small fishing boat, perhaps contraction of bodemschuit ( je ) literally, bottom-boat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Consider buddleboy, bogeyman, bumboat man, flirter, higgler, pugger, muffleman, quarrel picker, spittle-maker, whiff-maker and willy man.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
Like bumboat boys diving for pennies, book publishers scrambled for Woollcott words of praise for a new work, to splash on the volume's jacket as the blurb of blurbs.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Why, you see, his aunt is a good old soul, who keeps a bumboat, and goes off to the shipping.”
From The Poacher Joseph Rushbrook by Marryat, Frederick
I’ve expended all my money in buying clothes of this good lady here,” explained Downy, pointing to the fat, old bumboat woman.
From Crown and Anchor Under the Pen'ant by Greene, John B.
Better hail that bumboat with the vegetables to row you into town.
From The Pagan Madonna by Koerner, W. H. D. (William Henry Dethlef)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
