longboat

American

[lawng-boht, long-] / ˈlɔŋˌboʊt, ˈlɒŋ- /

noun

Nautical.

(formerly) the largest boat carried by a sailing ship.

longboat British

/ ˈlɒŋˌbəʊt /

noun

the largest boat carried aboard a commercial sailing vessel
another term for longship

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of longboat

First recorded in 1505–15; long ¹ + boat

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.

Locals dressed in tunics, capes and feather-tipped helmets brandished axes and hurled burning torches into a replica of a Viking longboat.

From BBC

The largest wooden boat festival in North America is a rare chance to see and sail 300 of the finest specimens, from schooners to longboats.

From Seattle Times

The horses and dogs would have travelled on Viking longboats across the North Sea, a journey that could take several weeks.

From BBC

Rubber boats, speedboats and a local longboat were being used in the search for the others.

From Seattle Times

Their wooden vessels, called longboats, were propelled by sail and oars.

From Reuters

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023