boat
Americannoun
-
boats
plural
-
a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.
-
a small ship, generally for specialized use.
a fishing boat.
-
a small vessel carried for use by a large one, as a lifeboat.
They lowered the boats for evacuation.
-
a ship.
-
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.
-
Ecclesiastical. a container for holding incense before it is placed in the censer.
verb (used without object)
-
boats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
boated,
past participle, past
-
boating
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
boats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
boated,
past participle, past
-
boating
present participle
-
to transport in a boat.
They boated us across the bay.
-
to remove (an oar) from the water and place athwartships.
idioms
-
in the same boat, in the same circumstances; faced with the same problems.
The new recruits were all in the same boat.
-
miss the boat,
-
to fail to take advantage of an opportunity.
He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college.
-
to miss the point of; fail to understand.
I missed the boat on that explanation.
-
-
rock the boat. rock.
noun
-
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
-
(not in technical use) another word for ship
-
navy a submarine
-
a container for gravy, sauce, etc
-
a small boat-shaped container for incense, used in some Christian churches
-
sharing the same problems
-
See burn 1
-
to lose an opportunity
-
informal to celebrate, esp lavishly and expensively
-
informal to cause a disturbance in the existing situation
verb
-
(intr) to travel or go in a boat, esp as a form of recreation
-
(tr) to transport or carry in a boat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
boatsimple
-
boatssimple
-
have boatedperfect
-
has boatedperfect
-
am boatingprogressive
-
are boatingprogressive
-
is boatingprogressive
-
have been boatingperfect progressive
-
has been boatingperfect progressive
Past
-
boatedsimple
-
had boatedperfect
-
was boatingprogressive
-
were boatingprogressive
-
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:
The mostly middle-aged crowd featured men in boat shoes and women with jewelry at an outdoor space where boats docked near the restaurant.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
The couple have devised a low-wattage approach aimed at not rocking the boat in a bid to show that unshowy duty is what Britons want from their royal family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Matwa said that every boat is "thoroughly" inspected so that no suspect cases slips by.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The cargo boat is embarking on a three-and-a-half week journey from Bangkok to California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
There’s a boat made to look like a float plane, a Loch Ness monster, a giant yellow duck, and another motorcycle.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
The mostly middle-aged crowd featured men in boat shoes and women with jewelry at an outdoor space where boats docked near the restaurant.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
Endangerment at sea is a new offence created to target those alleged to have steered small boats over the Channel.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Every day hundreds of people come from northern and eastern DR Congo on wooden boats aiming to reach Kinshasa.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
A hot sun beat down on the Pocomoke River when Tracy and Steve Hurley claimed choice seats two hours before the Aug. 15 showdown featuring 10 boats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Walking beside the wagons, each guarded by ten soldiers, the group left Richmond and crossed a river in small boats.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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
“He has dragon boated before, so he felt kind of confident in what he was doing … It was quite fast pace, so he kept up really well.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 5, 2023
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
The sky scowled down upon us, threatening rain as we boated over to Southwark and joined the throng of bearbaiters and playgoers.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
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
The city sees the latest return of boating as one part of a broader effort to bring more people and activity to MacArthur Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Officials will also work through water quality testing and boating safety requirements before the boats can return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
High-horsepower outboard motors have helped the boating industry navigate a choppy economy better than other discretionary goods makers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
I couldn’t have imagined that I, a kid whose closest contact with boating was the Staten Island Ferry when I visited my aunt once a year, would end up lost at sea.
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
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.
