schooner

American  

[skoo-ner] / ˈsku nər /

noun

schooners plural

1. Nautical. any of various types of sailing vessel having a foremast and mainmast, with or without other masts, and having fore-and-aft sails on all lower masts.

2. a very tall glass, as for beer.

3. prairie schooner.

---

schooner British  

/ ˈskuːnə /

noun

1. a sailing vessel with at least two masts, with all lower sails rigged fore-and-aft, and with the main mast stepped aft

2. a large glass for sherry

3. a large glass for beer

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• schooners
  plural

Etymology

Origin of schooner

1705–15, perhaps scoon, variant of dial. scun scud ¹ (compare dialectal Swedish skunna, Old English scyndan ) + -er ¹

Compare meaning

How does schooner compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• schooner vs. sloop
• ketch vs. schooner

Explanation

You're most likely to see a schooner in an old seaport or tourist harbor, since it's an old-fashioned kind of boat with at least two masts and sails. There are still places you can ride on a schooner, but schooners were most common along the east coast of the United States in the eighteenth century. Schooners were historically used for fishing and transporting cargo, and sometimes for racing. The word schooner was probably first used in Gloucester, Massachusetts, coined from the Scottish scon, "to send over water, to skip stones."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

schooner schooners

Behind them is the Bel Espoir, a schooner vessel on which the youths -- whether from Libya and Egypt or France and Bosnia -- have been sailing the Mediterranean to promote peace.

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025

Lake Superior’s first known commercial casualty, in 1816, was a schooner with a name that suggests hubris: the Invincible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025

In early January, excitement builds aboard the Avontuur - a 100-year-old schooner - as it sets sail from Germany and heads towards the rough waters of the North Sea.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025

The show is set on board the American Pride tall ship docked at Long Beach’s Pine Avenue Pier, a 130-foot schooner that today is primarily used as an education-focused vessel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2025

“Aye, aye, sir!” said Stuart, swinging himself aboard the schooner and taking his place at the wheel.

From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White

Time Out credited the "inexpensive Neapolitan pizzas and beer schooners" at Paesano as one of the highlights on the road.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2022

Small, shallow-draft scows then took the stones to much bigger schooners or sloops, anchored in deeper water, for the trip up the Potomac.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2021

Bassi’s grandfather fished halibut back when schooners carried small dories out to the fishing grounds, which made the landing of a fish that can grow to 500 pounds all the more exciting.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2019

The ship is a far cry from the old banana boats, steamships and schooners that crowded New York Harbor, like the one that reached the pier in August 1897, its decks “slimy with bananas.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2017

“Do the schooners usually come dose by here?”

From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor

Related Words

• vessel
• yacht