bumboat

[ buhm-boht ]

noun

, Nautical.

1. a boat used in peddling provisions and small wares among vessels lying in port or offshore.

bumboat

/ ˈbʌmˌbəʊt /

noun

1. any small boat used for ferrying supplies or goods for sale to a ship at anchor or at a mooring

Word History and Origins

Origin of bumboat¹

1665–75; probably partial translation of Dutch bomschuit a small fishing boat, perhaps contraction of bodemschuit ( je ) literally, bottom-boat

Word History and Origins

Origin of bumboat¹

C17 (in the sense: scavenger's boat) bum , from Dutch boomschip canoe (from bom tree) + boat

Example Sentences

Cyclists disembark from a "bumboat" at Pulau Ubin.

From New York Times

Ralph claims his Josephine, while the fallen Corcoran links his future with that of the bumboat woman, Little Buttercup.

From Project Gutenberg

Soon the sailors welcome on board Little Buttercup, a Portsmouth bumboat woman who has come to sell her wares, and who is hailed as "the rosiest, the roundest and the reddest beauty in all Spithead."

From Project Gutenberg

He had been unable to sneak away from the captain's gig when ashore, but made up for it by doing business with the bumboat men who came alongside.

From Project Gutenberg

The feud existing between these rival publishers, who have been somewhat aptly designated as the Colburn and Bentley of the “paper” trade, never abated, but, on the contrary, increased in acrimony of temper until at last not being content to vilify each other by words alone, they resorted to printing off virulent lampoons, in which Catnach never failed to let the world know that “Old Mother Pitts” had been formerly a bumboat woman, while the Pitts’ party announced that—

From Project Gutenberg