umiak

or oo·mi·ak

[oo-mee-ak]

noun

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.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for umiak

Historical Examples of umiak

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.
Eskimo Folktales
Unknown
And at the same moment the sea was lashed into foam, but the umiak had reached the land.
Eskimo Folktales
Unknown
The covering of the umiak is made of skins of the largest seals.
Ethnology of the Ungava District, Hudson Bay Territory
Lucien Turner
The skins and poles can be transported when the umiak is able to carry them.
Ethnology of the Ungava District, Hudson Bay Territory
Lucien Turner

British Dictionary definitions for umiak

umiak

oomiak

noun

a large open boat made of stretched skins, used by InuitCompare kayak

Word Origin for umiak

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

"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.