pontoon

[ pon-toon ]

/ pɒnˈtun /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pontoon ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Military. a boat or some other floating structure used as one of the supports for a temporary bridge over a river.

a float for a derrick, landing stage, etc.

Nautical. a float for raising a sunken or deeply laden vessel in the water; a camel or caisson.

a seaplane float.

RELATED WORDS

raft, craft, boat, barge

Nearby words

Also pon·ton

[pon-tn] /ˈpɒn tn/.

Origin of pontoon

1585–95; < French ponton < Latin pontōn- (stem of pontō) flat-bottomed boat, punt

pontoon

[ pon-toon ]

/ pɒnˈtun /

noun British.

the card game twenty-one.

Origin of pontoon

1915–20; alteration of French vingt-et-un twenty-one

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pontoon

You guard the pontoon bridge with a squad of Iraqi Army soldiers and a single interpreter.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq|Nathan Bradley Bethea|August 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While we have not definitively located the video, in one video tanks can be seen crossing a pontoon bridge into Ukraine.
Russia’s Military Is Already in East Ukraine. Will There Be a Full-Scale Invasion?|James Miller|August 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We have got some of their pontoon bridges, and other things left behind.
A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital|John Beauchamp Jones
During the rainy season, however, the pontoon bridges over the Rio Grande are swept away; the roads become impassable.
The Great White Tribe in Filipinia|Paul T. Gilbert

One of the pontoon bridges of 1862 was directly in front of the hospital.
Fredericksburg and Its Many Points of Interest|R. A. Kishpaugh
The pontoon train had by this time come up, and a bridge was soon built.
A Narrative of Service with the Third Wisconsin Infantry|Julian Wisner Hinkley
The two correspondents almost fell through a pontoon bridge into the Conemaugh.
History of the Johnstown Flood|Willis Fletcher Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for pontoon

pontoon

/ (pɒnˈtuːn) /

noun

a watertight float or vessel used where buoyancy is required in water, as in supporting a bridge, in salvage work, or where a temporary or mobile structure is required in military operations
(as modifier)a pontoon bridge

nautical a float, often inflatable, for raising a vessel in the water

Word Origin for pontoon

C17: from French ponton, from Latin pontō punt, floating bridge, from pōns bridge

noun

Also called: (esp US) twenty-one, vingt-et-un a gambling game in which players try to obtain card combinations worth 21 points

(in this game) the combination of an ace with a ten or court card when dealt to a player as his first two cards

Word Origin for pontoon

C20: probably an alteration of French vingt-et-un, literally: twenty-one

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pontoon

pontoon

"flat-bottomed boat" (especially one to support a temporary bridge), 1670s, from French pontoon, from Old French ponton (14c.) "bridge, drawbridge, boat-bridge; flat-bottomed boat," from Latin pontonem (nominative ponto) "flat-bottomed boat," from pons "bridge" (see pons). Pontoon bridge is first recorded 1778.