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picket boat

American  

noun

  1. a vessel used to patrol a harbor.


Etymology

Origin of picket boat

First recorded in 1865–70

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.

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

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

The shore batteries, the Minnesota, the picket boat Zouave, kept up a heavy firing all the while upon the Merrimac, upon the Raleigh and the Jamestown, and also upon the Beaufort.

From The Long Roll by Johnston, Mary

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

The Queen Elizabeth sent away a picket boat which passed through the bullet storm and most gallantly brought off the best part of them.

From Gallipoli Diary, Volume I by Hamilton, Ian, Sir