stowaway
Americannoun
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stowaway
First recorded in 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase stow away
Explanation
A person who hides on a vehicle to get a free ride is a stowaway. If your cat sneaks into the back seat of your car and travels to school with you, she's a stowaway too! The verb phrase stow away came first, meaning "conceal," from stow, or "stash." By the 1840s, stowaway was being used as a noun to mean "clandestine traveler." Anyone who sneaks onto a boat, plane, or train and hides out during the trip, stowing themselves someplace secluded, can be described as a stowaway.
Vocabulary lists containing stowaway
Impossible Creatures
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for April 27–May 3, 2024
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The First State of Being
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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.
See Examples For:
Four years earlier, another stowaway fell from a Heathrow-bound plane on to a nearby gasworks.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
It has helped give mezcal an air of mystery for decades, but scientists have now shown that this famous bottle stowaway is not a worm at all.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026
After illegally emigrating to the United States as a shipboard stowaway, the Colonel adopted the name Tom Parker, eventually finding work as a promoter with a traveling carnival.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2025
But nobody expected her to become a stowaway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
The feat surely made Richard Parker the largest stowaway, proportionally speaking, in the history of navigation.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Shipments will be checked by Woody during loading at Ballycastle and arrival at the island to ensure there are no unwelcome stowaways.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
"We've had 200 stowaways this year. Twelve have been scorpions and three of those have been within the last month - the same species of scorpion from China," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2024
The man, Wicliff Yves Fleurizard, 26, faces one felony count of stowaways on vessels or aircraft, according to a complaint filed on Monday in U.S.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
And unwanted species always come along with the wanted ones, for example as stowaways on ships.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2023
“This is no time for a Russian novel, sir. The ship will soon set sail, and two stowaways on board is one stowaway too many. I must ask you to leave.”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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.
