From Middle English bot, boot, boet, boyt (“boat”), from Old English bāt (“boat”), from Proto-West Germanic *bait, from Proto-Germanic *baitaz, *baitą (“boat, small ship”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to break, split”) (whence also fissure via Latin). Cognate with Old Norse beit (“boat”), Middle Dutch beitel (“little boat”). Old Norse bátr (whence Faroese and Icelandic bátur, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish båt, Danish båd), Dutch boot, German Boot, Occitan batèl and French bateau are all ultimately borrowings from the Old English word. Compare typologically ship << Proto-Indo-European *skey-; Russian долблёнка (dolbljónka) (< долби́ть (dolbítʹ)), Russian чёлн (čoln) (akin to коло́ть (kolótʹ)).
A craft used for transportation of goods, fishing, racing, recreational cruising, or military use on or in the water, propelled by oars or outboard motor or inboard motor or by wind.
We can't get everything in the boat. We'll leave this stuff behind.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
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Philander went into the next room[…]and came back with a salt mackerel[…]. Next he put the mackerel in a fry-pan, and the shanty began to smell like a Banks boat just in from a v'yage.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
A conveyance, utensil, or dish somewhat resembling a boat in shape.
a stone boat; a gravy boat
4
Informal A large and heavy car; the term connotes wasteful size.
Near-synonyms: land yacht, sled
He claimed to be broke but he always drove that ridiculous boat.
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Chemistry, Natural sciences, Organic chemistry, Physical sciencesPhysical One of two possible conformations of cyclohexane rings (the other being chair), shaped roughly like a boat.
Cellular automata, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences In Conway’s Game of Life, a particular still life consisting of a dead cell surrounded by five living cells.
It creates 4 blocks, a boat, and a glider every 768 generations.1994 May 7, David Bell, “HighLife - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 1/3)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
The program is represented as a string of boats (1s) and blocks (0s).2004 May 24, Paul Chapman, “A Prototype Programmable Universal Constructor for Conway's Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
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For many stable patterns, by the way, there are other input glider lanes where the gliders are caught and turned into boats, which are then cleanly deleted by another glider coming in on the same lane.2005 February 23, Dave Greene, “exist glider gun able of reconstruction in Life?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
From Middle English bot, boot, boet, boyt (“boat”), from Old English bāt (“boat”), from Proto-West Germanic *bait, from Proto-Germanic *baitaz, *baitą (“boat, small ship”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to break, split”) (whence also fissure via Latin). Cognate with Old Norse beit (“boat”), Middle Dutch beitel (“little boat”). Old Norse bátr (whence Faroese and Icelandic bátur, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish båt, Danish båd), Dutch boot, German Boot, Occitan batèl and French bateau are all ultimately borrowings from the Old English word. Compare typologically ship << Proto-Indo-European *skey-; Russian долблёнка (dolbljónka) (< долби́ть (dolbítʹ)), Russian чёлн (čoln) (akin to коло́ть (kolótʹ)).
1
To travel by boat.
2
To transport in a boat.
to boat goods
3
Obsolete, Slang To transport (deport to a penal colony).
Troy was 'boated' for seven years after being found guilty of burglary and robbery.2021, Graham Seal, Condemned, page 120: