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.

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jolly boat British  

noun

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

2. a small sailing boat used for pleasure

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Etymology

Origin of jolly boat

1720–30; jolly < Danish jolle yawl ¹

Example Sentences

The seaman dodged, and the cider mug spun into the planks of a jolly boat.

From Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure by Johnston, Charles Haven Ladd

Forward, there! send a crew into the jolly boat, sir, and bring me this old fellow in the skiff on board the ship.

From The Red Rover by Cooper, James Fenimore

"I do not see how we can, Lieutenant Morris, unless you are going to take a cruise in the jolly boat."

From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 5 November 1848 by Various

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

I never saw guns better aimed than ours were, except once, and that was when I was attacking a Spanish line-of-battle ship in a jolly boat.

From Marmaduke Merry A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone Days by Kingston, William Henry Giles