bateau
Americannoun
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Nautical. Also
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Chiefly Canadian and Southern U.S.. a small, flat-bottomed rowboat used on rivers.
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a half-decked, sloop-rigged boat used for fishing on Chesapeake Bay; skipjack.
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(in some regions) a scow.
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a pontoon of a floating bridge.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bateau
An Americanism first recorded in 1705–15; from French; Old French batel, equivalent to bat (from Old English bāt boat ) + -el diminutive suffix, from Latin -ellus; see -elle
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.
See Examples For:
“I was suffering, with this heavy bateau of pressure in my head,” he says.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2022
Ms. McIntyre, wearing an ivory crepe wedding gown with a bateau neck by Pronovias, walked down an aisle lighted by stained-glass filtered sunlight.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2020
From the front, the dress was simple enough: sleek and sleeveless with a flattering bateau neckline.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2018
In the picture, Portman is wearing what looks like a Dior-inspired, cherry-red dress with bateau neckline and sizable buttons, complemented by a triple strand of pearls.
From Time ● Dec. 16, 2015
The river was dark and a bateau mouche went by, all bright with lights, going fast and quiet up and out of sight under the bridge.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
And that rank “was because of bateaux transporting tobacco,” says Brian Coffield, a historic interpreter at Pleasant Grove Park and president of the Virginia Canals & Navigations Society.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2022
Crews restocked their bateaux with freight for the return trip, which could take as many as 15 days upstream.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2022
He traveled with two Penobscot Indian guides by canoe, in French bateaux, and on foot.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2018
“Anyone who’s got a bass boat or bateaux or a pirogue or any kind of water craft, they know what they’re doing.”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 25, 2016
Tobacco and other merchandise was taken in bateaux down this river to Richmond.
From How Justice Grew: Virginia Counties, An Abstract of Their Formation by Hiden, Martha Woodroof
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.
