boatload

American

[boht-lohd] / ˈboʊtˌloʊd /

noun

the cargo that a vessel carries or is capable of carrying.

boatload British

/ ˈbəʊtˌləʊd /

noun

the amount of cargo or number of people held by a boat or ship

"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

Etymology

Origin of boatload

First recorded in 1670–80; boat + load

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:

boatload

For reimbursements, get ready to amass a boatload of documentation.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

And even if the modern melodrama rarely gets sweepingly positive reviews, they still make a boatload of cash.

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026

“I can’t make it work to where it would be practical to keep going without me spending a boatload of money and keep putting myself into more debt.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2025

"It's frustrating. That money is going to players who are making an absolute boatload anyway," Murray, who has won three US Open mixed titles, told BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2025

He drove his boys hard, but he wasn’t about to let a boatload of them drown in the middle of Lake Washington.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023