bumboat

American  

[buhm-boht] / ˈbʌmˌboʊt /

noun

Nautical.

1. a boat used in peddling provisions and small wares among vessels lying in port or offshore.

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bumboat British  

/ ˈbʌmˌbəʊt /

noun

1. any small boat used for ferrying supplies or goods for sale to a ship at anchor or at a mooring

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Etymology

Origin of bumboat

1665–75; probably partial translation of Dutch bomschuit a small fishing boat, perhaps contraction of bodemschuit ( je ) literally, bottom-boat

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bumboat

Consider buddleboy, bogeyman, bumboat man, flirter, higgler, pugger, muffleman, quarrel picker, spittle-maker, whiff-maker and willy man.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

Like bumboat boys diving for pennies, book publishers scrambled for Woollcott words of praise for a new work, to splash on the volume's jacket as the blurb of blurbs.

From Time Magazine Archive

But, look here," he went on, "here's what I want to know, Barbecue—how long are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat?

From Treasure Island by Milo Winter

In the bumboat was a boy of about Diego's age, whom he recognized as an old acquaintance and playmate, and who seemed very much surprised at seeing him on board the American vessel.

From Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XII, Jan. 3, 1891 by James Elverson

You mean to watch for some small Japanese boat—a bumboat, eh?

From At the Fall of Port Arthur Or, A Young American in the Japanese Navy by Edward Stratemeyer

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