dinghy

[ding-gee]

noun

plural

dinghies 

1. any small boat designed as a tender or lifeboat, especially a small ship's boat, rowed, sailed, or driven by a motor.

2. a boat used by warships, having four single-banked oars and a spritsail.

3. any of various rowing or sailing boats used in sheltered waters along the Indian coasts to transport passengers and freight.

4. an inflatable life raft.

dinghy

/ ˈdɪŋɪ /

noun

1. Also (esp formerly): dingy.  dingey. any small boat, powered by sail, oars, or outboard motor

verb

1. slang,  (tr) to ignore (a person) or avoid (an event)

Word History and Origins

Origin of dinghy¹

1785–95; < Bengali diṅgi, Hindi ḍiṅgī, diminutive of ḍiṅgā boat

Word History and Origins

Origin of dinghy¹

C19: from Hindi or Bengali dingi a little boat, from dingā boat

Example Sentences

About half an hour later, a dinghy full of armed troops wearing tactical gear pulled alongside the Marinette, with a much larger military vessel visible in the background.

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What followed was a three month journey through Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya, before eventually arriving in Italy on an overcrowded dinghy.

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They are seen boarding a dinghy and motoring away into the darkness of the Caribbean Sea, headed for their luxury yacht, anchored in the next bay.

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Ten of them are being deployed by a newly branded War Department to Puerto Rico to combat drug traffickers in dinghies.

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Ministers are waiting for the French to stop dinghies leaving the shore and a separate German commitment to change its law so it can seize boats being warehoused there.

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Related Words

• life raft 
• lifeboat 
• rowboat 
• skiff