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umiak

or oo·mi·ak

[oo-mee-ak]
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noun
  1. an open Eskimo boat that consists of a wooden frame covered with skins and provided with several thwarts: used for transport of goods and passengers.
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Origin of umiak

First recorded in 1760–70, umiak is from the Inuit word umiaq women's boat
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for umiak

Historical Examples

  • And the umiak and its crew of women stayed there, and wintered in that place.

    Eskimo Folktales

    Unknown

  • I have found a dead whale; to-morrow we must all go out in the umiak and cut it up.

  • And at the same moment the sea was lashed into foam, but the umiak had reached the land.

  • The covering of the umiak is made of skins of the largest seals.

  • The skins and poles can be transported when the umiak is able to carry them.

British Dictionary definitions for umiak

umiak

oomiak

noun
  1. a large open boat made of stretched skins, used by InuitCompare kayak
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Word Origin

C18: from Greenland Inuktitut: boat for the use of women
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 umiak

n.

"large Eskimo boat," c.1743, from Eskimo umiaq "an open skin boat." Said by 18c.-19c. sources to be a "woman's boat," as opposed to the kayak, which was worked exclusively by men.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper