picket boat

American  

noun

1. a vessel used to patrol a harbor.

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Etymology

Origin of picket boat

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Boatswain James R. Ingraham, commanding a Coast Guard picket boat, shouted through the gloom of an early Florida morning last week at a fast little craft he had spotted on Biscayne Bay.

From Time Magazine Archive

Breasting slowly up the Patapsco River came a Coast Guard picket boat, opened fire with its single small forward gun as cannon from the fort returned rounds of blanks.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was found that the seaplanes, when they were loaded with bombs, could not get off a sea that would hardly distress a picket boat.

From The War in the Air; Vol. 1 The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force by Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir

A special picket boat to rescue crews of C-1 and C-3.

From The Boy Allies with the Victorious Fleets Or, the Fall of the German Navy by Hayes, Clair W. (Clair Wallace)

He settled himself comfortably on top of the cabin of the picket boat and pulled up the collar of his greatcoat about his face.

From The Long Trick by Bartimeus