boat
Americannoun
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boats
plural
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a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.
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a small ship, generally for specialized use.
a fishing boat.
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a small vessel carried for use by a large one, as a lifeboat.
They lowered the boats for evacuation.
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a ship.
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a vessel of any size built for navigation on a river or other inland body of water.
-
a serving dish resembling a boat.
a gravy boat;
a celery boat.
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Ecclesiastical. a container for holding incense before it is placed in the censer.
verb (used without object)
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boats,
present (3rd person singular)
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boated,
past participle, past
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boating
present participle
verb (used with object)
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boats,
present (3rd person singular)
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boated,
past participle, past
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boating
present participle
-
to transport in a boat.
They boated us across the bay.
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to remove (an oar) from the water and place athwartships.
idioms
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in the same boat, in the same circumstances; faced with the same problems.
The new recruits were all in the same boat.
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miss the boat,
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to fail to take advantage of an opportunity.
He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college.
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to miss the point of; fail to understand.
I missed the boat on that explanation.
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rock the boat. rock.
noun
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a small vessel propelled by oars, paddle, sails, or motor for travelling, transporting goods, etc, esp one that can be carried aboard a larger vessel
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(not in technical use) another word for ship
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navy a submarine
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a container for gravy, sauce, etc
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a small boat-shaped container for incense, used in some Christian churches
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sharing the same problems
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See burn 1
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to lose an opportunity
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informal to celebrate, esp lavishly and expensively
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informal to cause a disturbance in the existing situation
verb
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(intr) to travel or go in a boat, esp as a form of recreation
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(tr) to transport or carry in a boat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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boatsimple
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boatssimple
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have boatedperfect
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has boatedperfect
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am boatingprogressive
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are boatingprogressive
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is boatingprogressive
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have been boatingperfect progressive
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has been boatingperfect progressive
Past
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boatedsimple
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had boatedperfect
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was boatingprogressive
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were boatingprogressive
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had been boatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of boat
First recorded before 900; Middle English boot (noun), Old English bāt; cognate with Old Norse beit
Explanation
A boat is a water craft, a vessel that floats and can be propelled through the water. If you buy a private island, you'll need a boat to get there. A lobster boat travels across ocean bays powered by a small motor, and a sail boat is moved by the wind hitting its sails at a particular angle. A much smaller type of boat is a gravy boat, a boat-shaped serving dish that holds a sauce. Boat is sometimes used as a verb, meaning "to go out in a boat." The Old English root is bat, "ship or vessel," from a Germanic source.
Vocabulary lists containing boat
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:
In 2018, riots broke out in Saint-Louis, Senegal, after a fisher was shot and killed by Mauritanian coast guards, during what the Mauritanians said was a cross-border raid by a fishmeal boat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
In her financial disclosure in February 2025, she reported liabilities including a boat loan valued at $100,000 to $250,000 and a mortgage valued at between $1 million and $5 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
But the debt for the vacation, the wedding, the furniture in the basement, the boat — all of that costs you twice.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
A Bulgarian vessel was close by, but when they arrived all they saw was an overturned boat and rafts as well as life jackets.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
As we make our way across the river, the only sounds are the soft creaking of our oars and the gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the boat.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
One of the beefs homeowners have with PWCs—and so called “wake boats”—is that the waves they generate can slam moored boats into docks and erode shorelines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Anduril’s new facility could add nine million labor hours a year to the Virginia-class industrial base, a 15% boost that should relieve other facilities and help put the boats together faster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
In July, 25 boats and 25 engines were seized in a maritime consignment at Felixstowe in Suffolk.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The other 16 crew members were rescued by border guard patrol boats.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Before I could figure it out, we were at the harbor, and I was following the stream of men on board the closest of the three boats.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
This summer, ProPublica journalists hiked and boated across Rubkona County, the epicenter of South Sudan’s outbreak and home to the country’s largest refugee camp, to interview families that the U.S. cut off from help.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
"Nowadays it has to be boated off. It's just not realistic at all. But it captures everyone's imagination."
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
The film shifts to black and white as the action moves inside a building less adorned than the ones the man has boated past, but grand, even so.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
Naya Rivera, who played cheerleader Santana Lopez,, drowned in Lake Piru in July 2020 after saving her then-4-year-old son while the pair boated together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022
With the Marine Jungschar, the naval branch of the Hitler Youth, Herbert boated on the waters in Tetlow Park in eastern Berlin.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
PWCs are to safe boating what mullets are to haircuts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Studland Bay Marine Partnership is made up of conservation charities, boating organisations, academics, statutory bodies, community groups and businesses, with the aim of restoring Studland's seagrass.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
When she feels up to it, they go boating or ride bicycles to nearby beaches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Residents of the city, which is nestled in the Appalachian foothills with the Tennessee River running through the heart of a lively downtown, enjoy a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, biking and boating.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
And then, in boating supplies, Margo located an air horn.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
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.
