picket boat

noun

1. a vessel used to patrol a harbor.

Word History and Origins

Origin of picket boat¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

But on April 18, amid a Pacific gale, enemy picket boats spotted the Hornet and its escorts.

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Cushing himself swam to the swamps on the river bank, and after wading among them for hours reached a Federal picket boat.

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A picket boat conveyed the Prince and his staff through a narrow entrance into the small landlocked harbour, where they landed on a desolate pier, wet decorations flapping dismally in cold wind and spray.

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By the way, our picket boats report that a steamer came down the bay this morning, and moored inside the Middle Ground.

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Hardly a light showed on the river banks or along the spread of the stream, save indistinct gleams in the misty gloom where the picket boats kept up a ceaseless vigilant patrol.

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