jolly boat

American  

noun

1. a light boat carried at the stern of a sailing vessel.

2. a small pleasure sailboat for use in sheltered waters.

---

jolly boat British  

noun

1. a small boat used as a utility tender for a vessel

2. a small sailing boat used for pleasure

---

Etymology

Origin of jolly boat

1720–30; jolly < Danish jolle yawl ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jolly boat

Hence a jolly boat was sent farther towards the north, but it too was compelled, by want of provisions, to return before the point named by me, Port Dickson, was reached.

From The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II by Leslie, Alexander, fl. 1879-1882

In a few moments we came abreast of the fort, and in obedience to the fluttering signal, our steamer rounded gracefully to, and put her jolly boat off for the expected passengers.

From The South-West By a Yankee. In Two Volumes. Volume 1 by Ingraham, Joseph Holt

With this object in view, Lieutenant Thomas pushed off in the jolly boat, accompanied by the French fishermen's small boat which had come to the assistance of the Grappler's crew.

From Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849 by Gilly, William O. S.

The boat selected for the voyage was a small affair—something like a modern jolly boat, though of rather greater beam in proportion to its other dimensions; its length was sixteen feet, its breadth nine feet.

From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 by Various

At the time the vessel was wrecked, she had four boats, the longboat, two cutters, and a dinghy or small jolly boat.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. by Stokes, John Lort