boat people

plural noun

1. refugees who have fled a country by boat, usually without sufficient provisions, navigational aids, or a set destination, especially those who left Indochina by sea as a result of the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

boat people

plural noun

1. refugees, esp from Vietnam in the late 1970s, who leave by boat hoping to be picked up by ships of another country

Word History and Origins

Origin of boat people¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

The communist reeducation camps, the flight of the boat people, and the Cambodian killing fields followed.

From The Daily Beast

I wanted air and quiet, but the desire of my boat people was set on a chance to go a-marketing or to do a little visiting.

From Project Gutenberg

These Chinese boat people are perhaps unequalled by any others in the world.

From Project Gutenberg

The party were in a frolicsome mood; and they went off singing a song, to the great astonishment of the native boat-people.

From Project Gutenberg

At sundown the boat-people anchor their craft in rows to stakes, thus forming boat-terraces as it were.

From Project Gutenberg

He checked the evidence of the boat people as it had appeared in the papers by what they said now.

From Project Gutenberg