outboard motor
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of outboard motor
First recorded in 1905–10
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.
The flagellum comprises more than 30 distinct parts, so similar to those of an outboard motor that biologists speak of the flagellum’s propeller, drive shaft and so forth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
The yachtsmen pulled over to ask two loggers for help, and one of the loggers noticed an improperly secured outboard motor in the back seat of the rental car.
From Slate • Jul. 22, 2025
People were crowded around the outboard motor, which had briefly stalled but was being restarted.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2025
The family was aboard the Pangaboat, a small boat with an outboard motor, along with several other people when it capsized at Del Mar Beach.
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2025
But we soon heard the hum of the outboard motor, and there, speeding after us, was the new canoe with Yao and the master on board!
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
