scow
Americannoun
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any of various vessels having a flat-bottomed rectangular hull with sloping ends, built in various sizes with or without means of propulsion, as barges, punts, rowboats, or sailboats.
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Eastern U.S. a barge carrying bulk material in an open hold.
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an old or clumsy boat; hulk; tub.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an unpowered barge used for freight; lighter
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(esp in the midwestern US) a sailing yacht with a flat bottom, designed to plane
Etymology
Origin of scow
1660–70, < Dutch schouw ferryboat
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.
Processors flew in thousands of workers and contracted with an armada of vessels, ranging from World War II-era scows to Bering Sea crab boats, to ferry the fish back to the plants.
From Seattle Times
Without rail or paved highways to provide access, all finished lumber had to be towed east on scows from a sawmill in equally tiny Utsalady on Camano Island.
From Seattle Times
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
All that remained 101 years later was the rusted metal shell of the scow that clung to the rocks like a statue — until last week.
From New York Times
The scow, now heavily deteriorated, represents one of the most dramatic rescues in the Niagara River’s history.
From Fox News
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
