schooner
Americannoun
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Nautical. any of various types of sailing vessel having a foremast and mainmast, with or without other masts, and having fore-and-aft sails on all lower masts.
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a very tall glass, as for beer.
noun
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a sailing vessel with at least two masts, with all lower sails rigged fore-and-aft, and with the main mast stepped aft
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a large glass for sherry
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a large glass for beer
Etymology
Origin of schooner
1705–15, perhaps scoon, variant of dial. scun scud 1 (compare dialectal Swedish skunna, Old English scyndan ) + -er 1
Compare meaning
How does schooner compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
You're most likely to see a schooner in an old seaport or tourist harbor, since it's an old-fashioned kind of boat with at least two masts and sails. There are still places you can ride on a schooner, but schooners were most common along the east coast of the United States in the eighteenth century. Schooners were historically used for fishing and transporting cargo, and sometimes for racing. The word schooner was probably first used in Gloucester, Massachusetts, coined from the Scottish scon, "to send over water, to skip stones."
Vocabulary lists containing schooner
The Cay
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"Another Place, Another Time," Vocabulary from the short story
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Treasure Island
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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.
Ms Schooner said her 10-year-old son was part of the school group, though he was not attacked.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2025
Kwame Dawes, a Ghanaian-born poet and fiction writer, is the editor in chief of Prairie Schooner magazine.
From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2022
He also voiced Professor Boston Schooner in the “New Eighth Doctor Adventure, Deimos,” and appeared on screen for the first and only time as Professor Grisenko in the episode “Cold War.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 25, 2022
Beach Glass was bred and is owned by the several members of the team that campaigned Somebeachsomewhere — trainer Brent McGrath and Schooner II Stable of Truro, Nova Scotia.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 16, 2022
In the early Evening, the Firing grew greater, which was General Putnam arrived with Reinforcements & engaging with Parliament’s Schooner.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
