flying boat

American  

noun

1. a seaplane whose main body is a hull adapted for floating.

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flying boat British  

noun

1. a seaplane in which the fuselage consists of a hull that provides buoyancy in the water

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Etymology

Origin of flying boat

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Last year, a Catalina flying boat was flown over Flt Lt Cruickshank's home in Aberdeen to mark his 104th birthday.

From BBC • Aug. 16, 2025

“I heard a rumbling sound and saw a flying boat, as Thais called it back then,” recalled an animated Mr. Sao, now 87.

From New York Times • May 24, 2022

Here, after World War II, the quixotic — all right, yes, and the downright weird — aviator/producer/industrialist Howard Hughes built the enormous wooden flying boat that just about everyone but Hughes called the Spruce Goose.

From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2022

The flying boat touched down briefly in the Caribbean before resuming its journey to LaGuardia Airport in New York City, where it landed on Jan. 6, 1942.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 7, 2021

But how do you explain being visited by your missing brother in a dream where you took a flying boat to go look at some underwater trains without sounding delusional?

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston