boarding party

American  

noun

1. a group of persons who board a vessel, especially to attack, seize, or search it.

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Etymology

Origin of boarding party

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

We also know one of those ships was called the Inflictor, and was deliberately crashed into the surface of the planet Jakku by its young captain after it was invaded by a boarding party, led by her Rebel lover.

From The Verge • Dec. 16, 2015

Gates told Petraeus before he arrived to leave his boarding party behind: past directors who had arrived with an entourage, like Porter Goss and John Deutch, had not been well received.

From Time • Nov. 15, 2012

The crew must have "left in a great hurry," reported the boarding party, for their pipes and tobacco were still there—and no sailor, they noted, willingly abandons ship without his pipe.

From Slate • Dec. 6, 2011

Navy 5th Fleet, told reporters at the Pentagon by telephone from Bahrain the boarding party was U.S. special operations forces.

From BusinessWeek • Feb. 22, 2011

At his first words Taine burst into raging commands for men to follow him through the Niccola’s air lock and fight a boarding party of Plumies in empty space.

From The Aliens by Dongen, H. R. van