airboat

[ air-boht ]

/ ˈɛərˌboʊt /

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.

Nearby words

airbag, airbed, airbill, airboard, airboarding, airboat, airborne, airborne alert, airborne command post, airbrasive, airbrick

Origin of airboat

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for airboat

Juan Jimenez had climbed down from the airboat; he was looking at the body of Kurt Borch in horror.
Little Fuzzy|Henry Beam Piper
When hiding from the second airboat, he disturbed a kelit in the thick brush growing beside the road.
Insidekick|Jesse Franklin Bone
They could have left the ship in their airboat and come back, flying low, while he had been hunting.
The Keeper|Henry Beam Piper
The airboat murmured overhead, hot gold in the sunset light.
The Sensitive Man|Poul William Anderson

You see, about twenty minutes ago, this Girzad arrived in an airboat, with an Assassin and these three Volitionalist workers.
Last Enemy|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