bumboat

[buhm-boht]

noun

Nautical.

1. a boat used in peddling provisions and small wares among vessels lying in port or offshore.

bumboat

/ ˈbʌmˌbəʊt /

noun

1. any small boat used for ferrying supplies or goods for sale to a ship at anchor or at a mooring

Word History and Origins

Origin of bumboat¹

1665–75; probably partial translation of Dutch bomschuit a small fishing boat, perhaps contraction of bodemschuit ( je ) literally, bottom-boat

Word History and Origins

Origin of bumboat¹

C17 (in the sense: scavenger's boat) bum , from Dutch boomschip canoe (from bom tree) + _boat

Example Sentences

Soon the sailors welcome on board Little Buttercup, a Portsmouth bumboat woman who has come to sell her wares, and who is hailed as "the rosiest, the roundest and the reddest beauty in all Spithead."

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He had been unable to sneak away from the captain's gig when ashore, but made up for it by doing business with the bumboat men who came alongside.

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Waiting alongside were two or three bumboats well stocked with fruit, soft-tack, eggs, and such curios as a sailor might be supposed to covet.

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I, too, thought of the bumboat woman, but gave up hope of aid from her, seeing how she is watched.

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Then clamber into a little bumboat for a 10-minute chug out to Changi Fishery, where you can enjoy an al fresco seafood dinner surrounded by paper lanterns and water.

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