coble

American  

[koh-buhl] / ˈkoʊ bəl /

noun

1. a flat-bottomed fishing boat with a lugsail, used mainly in northern England and Scotland for salmon.

---

coble British  

/ ˈkəʊbəl, ˈkɒbəl /

noun

1. a small single-masted flat-bottomed fishing boat

---

Etymology

Origin of coble

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English cobel; probably of Celtic origin (compare Welsh ceubal, ceubol “skiff, ferryboat”), ultimately from Late Latin caupulus, caupilus “small sailing vessel with a high prow”

Example Sentences

The accident was seen from the shore, and five men put off in a coble, fitted with air-cases like a life-boat; but she almost immediately turned end over end, and two men were drowned.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 445 Volume 18, New Series, July 10, 1852 by Chambers, William

Through the foaming seas, which threatened every moment to overwhelm the little coble, they pulled off to the wreck.

From A Yacht Voyage Round England by Kingston, William Henry Giles

For some time I could see naught; but at last it did seem to me as if something dark—a great fish, or perhaps only a shadow—followed studiously in the track of the moving coble.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI by Stevenson, Robert Louis

The Island of Earraid is a small, unimportant island off the coast of Scotland. 381-2 A coble is a small boat used in fishing.

From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 by Sylvester, Charles Herbert

A vast drowning billow leaped forward, and when the cloud of spray had scattered, there was no coble to be seen.

From The Divine Adventure Volume IV by Macleod, Fiona