airboat

[ air-boht ]

/ ˈɛərˌboʊt /

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noun

Also called swamp boat . a small open boat having a very shallow draft and driven by a caged airplane propeller mounted above the rear transom, capable of traveling at relatively high speeds through shallow water, swamps, etc.

verb (used without object)

to go or travel in an airboat.

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Origin of airboat

1865–70, for an earlier sense; air(craft) + boat

Words nearby airboat

air bell, air bladder, air blast, airboard, airboarding, airboat, airborne, airborne alert, airborne command post, air-bound, air brake

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use airboat in a sentence

Some airboat tour companies will even let you hold a small dog in a carrying case between your legs, if you want to go on a proper adventure.
The Most Dog-Friendly National Parks in the U.S.|Emily Pennington|May 7, 2021|Outside Online
When hiding from the second airboat, he disturbed a kelit in the thick brush growing beside the road.
Insidekick|Jesse Franklin Bone
It was a rear cabin in a large airboat, luxuriously furnished with reclining seats and an inlaid table.
The Sensitive Man|Poul William Anderson
It was an air-view of the city of Zurb—taken, the high priest explained, by infrared light from an airboat over the city at night.
Temple Trouble|Henry Beam Piper

The pickup seemed to be pointed downward from the bow of an airboat circling at about ten thousand feet.
Time Crime|H. Beam Piper
"Well, let's see what we can find in the way of a big airboat, or a small ship," Conn said.
The Cosmic Computer|Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for airboat

airboat

/ (ˈɛəˌbəʊt) /

noun

another name for swamp boat

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012