pilot boat

American  

noun

1. a boat carrying pilots to or from large ships.

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Etymology

Origin of pilot boat

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

One Massachusetts captain, having smashed the New York-to-Liverpool record with a time of 13 days, arrives to find that no pilot boat would brave the fog to guide him into the harbor.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025

"I got my arm into the life buoy and the skipper went full ahead and pulled me out of the way. They got me on to the pilot boat."

From BBC • Dec. 19, 2022

The only physical improvements the agency claims to have made at the port are “electrical lines, security wall upgrades, a pilot boat and a security card machine”.

From The Guardian • Oct. 11, 2019

“If we were one entity — just a grocery guy, just a pilot boat — I don’t see that this would have continued,” Mr. Hogan said.

From New York Times • Aug. 20, 2016

We watched until the pilot boat, having picked up the harbor pilot from the Empire Tern, began to race back to Willemstad.

From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor