boat
Americannoun
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boats
plural
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a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.
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a small ship, generally for specialized use.
a fishing boat.
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a small vessel carried for use by a large one, as a lifeboat.
They lowered the boats for evacuation.
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a ship.
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a vessel of any size built for navigation on a river or other inland body of water.
-
a serving dish resembling a boat.
a gravy boat;
a celery boat.
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Ecclesiastical. a container for holding incense before it is placed in the censer.
verb (used without object)
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boats,
present (3rd person singular)
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boated,
past participle, past
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boating
present participle
verb (used with object)
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boats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
boated,
past participle, past
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boating
present participle
-
to transport in a boat.
They boated us across the bay.
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to remove (an oar) from the water and place athwartships.
idioms
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in the same boat, in the same circumstances; faced with the same problems.
The new recruits were all in the same boat.
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miss the boat,
-
to fail to take advantage of an opportunity.
He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college.
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to miss the point of; fail to understand.
I missed the boat on that explanation.
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rock the boat. rock.
noun
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a small vessel propelled by oars, paddle, sails, or motor for travelling, transporting goods, etc, esp one that can be carried aboard a larger vessel
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(not in technical use) another word for ship
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navy a submarine
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a container for gravy, sauce, etc
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a small boat-shaped container for incense, used in some Christian churches
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sharing the same problems
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See burn 1
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to lose an opportunity
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informal to celebrate, esp lavishly and expensively
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informal to cause a disturbance in the existing situation
verb
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(intr) to travel or go in a boat, esp as a form of recreation
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(tr) to transport or carry in a boat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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boatsimple
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boatssimple
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have boatedperfect
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has boatedperfect
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am boatingprogressive
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are boatingprogressive
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is boatingprogressive
-
have been boatingperfect progressive
-
has been boatingperfect progressive
Past
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boatedsimple
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had boatedperfect
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was boatingprogressive
-
were boatingprogressive
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had been boatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of boat
First recorded before 900; Middle English boot (noun), Old English bāt; cognate with Old Norse beit
Explanation
A boat is a water craft, a vessel that floats and can be propelled through the water. If you buy a private island, you'll need a boat to get there. A lobster boat travels across ocean bays powered by a small motor, and a sail boat is moved by the wind hitting its sails at a particular angle. A much smaller type of boat is a gravy boat, a boat-shaped serving dish that holds a sauce. Boat is sometimes used as a verb, meaning "to go out in a boat." The Old English root is bat, "ship or vessel," from a Germanic source.
Vocabulary lists containing boat
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:
The company aims to drum up intrigue this week by placing oversize pink luggage trunks across New York City before sailing a pink branded boat around Manhattan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
She was checking people in on the pier for a separate boat tour to Sazan on a replica galleon that advertises the opportunity to “be a pirate for a day.”
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Prosecutors have accused the defendants of helping launch a "substandard small boat, uncertified, unfit for navigation on the open sea, overcrowded and lacking appropriate life jackets."
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
According to the charge sheet, the defendants helped to launch "a small boat of poor quality, unfit to navigate at sea, overloaded and equipped with inadequate life-jackets".
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Teams of horses or mules hauled each boat from stop to stop.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
His comments come after protests over the weekend, described as spontaneous by police, when masked men chanting "stop the boats" blocked roads in Dover.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Other tour boats skate around the limestone coast fringed with wind-blasted greenery.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
The rip currents and massive surf are capable of capsizing small boats, knocking people off jetties and pulling swimmers out to sea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Some 625 migrants on eight boats were brought to shore at Dover and Portsmouth on Sunday, according to Home Office figures.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
In time they had children and grandchildren who also learned to fish and build boats, and their families prospered in Trokorpe.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
This summer, ProPublica journalists hiked and boated across Rubkona County, the epicenter of South Sudan’s outbreak and home to the country’s largest refugee camp, to interview families that the U.S. cut off from help.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
“It’s the worst situation I’ve seen on the lake,” said South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara Wallace, who has lived and boated in the area for decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025
"Nowadays it has to be boated off. It's just not realistic at all. But it captures everyone's imagination."
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
She took ballet; played basketball with her mother, brother and cousins; and boated and swam in the sea on weekends.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2022
With the Marine Jungschar, the naval branch of the Hitler Youth, Herbert boated on the waters in Tetlow Park in eastern Berlin.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Residents of the city, which is nestled in the Appalachian foothills with the Tennessee River running through the heart of a lively downtown, enjoy a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, biking and boating.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
The city sees the latest return of boating as one part of a broader effort to bring more people and activity to MacArthur Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Ken says the boating community in Leeds is "really warm"
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
We love vacationing in Lake Tahoe, swimming and boating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
“Did you go boating with Gat and Johnny?”
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
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.
