boat
Americannoun
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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.
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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)
verb (used with object)
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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,
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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
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have been boatingperfect progressive
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has been boatingperfect progressive
Past
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boatedsimple
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had boatedperfect
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was boatingprogressive
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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:
He was speaking after a boat accident on the Jaranja River in the northern Sokoto state, where nine people died heading to a local market.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Even when there is an accident or mechanical fault, the water guard quickly informs the control room and a rescue boat is deployed in record time," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
“One of the guys came up to me and said ‘You know, with the new rules, you could be in the men’s boat, and it would be really cool….
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
“Think about being on a tour boat where people move from one side to the other, and then, when it gets too busy, they go back to the other side of it.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 19, 2026
Teams of horses or mules hauled each boat from stop to stop.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
"But life jackets alone cannot guarantee safety without safe boats."
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
The new systems include attack drones re-engineered from the Iranian Shahed drone and drone boats from startup Saronic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Mourners on dozens of boats gathered for the memorial service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Before Les Voiles, Father Gouarin conducts the traditional blessing of the boats from the balcony.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Walking beside the wagons, each guarded by ten soldiers, the group left Richmond and crossed a river in small boats.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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
Wallace encouraged people — even those who have boated a lot — to hire a seasoned captain when they visit Tahoe and want to get out on the water.
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
The sky scowled down upon us, threatening rain as we boated over to Southwark and joined the throng of bearbaiters and playgoers.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
Among the volunteers turned out to help with the project included Judy Saunders, who used the brook's boating pond regularly as a child in the 1960s.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
And on top of that: fishing, boating, mineral extraction, and protection from underground toxins that could blanket Utah’s most heavily populated area and drive everyone away—not just from Box Elder, but from the state altogether.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026
She went to jazz clubs in Chicago, skiing in the California mountains and boating on Lake Union in Seattle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
The advisory said "boating is not well regulated" on the islands, and "injuries and deaths have occurred".
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
All kinds of boating except the most urgent had ceased for the time being.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
