canoe
Americannoun
-
any of various slender, open boats, tapering to a point at both ends, propelled by paddles or sometimes sails and traditionally formed of light framework covered with bark, skins, or canvas, or formed from a dug-out or burned-out log or logs, and now usually made of aluminum, fiberglass, etc.
-
any of various small, primitive light boats.
verb (used without object)
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to paddle a canoe.
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to go in a canoe.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles
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another word for waka
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of the same tribe
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of canoe
1545–55; < French < Spanish canoa < Arawak; replacing canoa < Spanish
Explanation
A canoe is a narrow boat that you propel and steer by paddling. Most canoes are fairly light, so that one or two people can carry them easily to the water. A canoe is wide enough for one person to sit in front of another, and pointed at both ends. Paddlers sit or kneel in the canoe and push through the water with wide, usually wooden paddles to direct their path through the water. The word canoe comes, by way of the Spanish canoa, from the Haitian language known as Carib or Arawakan, canaoua.
Vocabulary lists containing canoe
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Native American History - Introductory
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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.
There are pools, hot tubs and a lazy river, and canoe rentals.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026
The presence of other crocodiles, hippos and rocks in the river, meant it was too dangerous to use a boat or canoe to recover the body, Potgieter told the BBC.
From BBC • May 5, 2026
Before leaving, the corps stole a sacred canoe from their hosts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Hosting the canoe slalom events near L.A. would have required an expensive temporary build.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
After watching for a while, I’d lower myself into the water and hold on to the side of the canoe, trying to quell my panic and get used to being out in open water.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
