radeau

[ ruh-doh ]

noun

, plural ra·deaux [r, uh, -, doh, -, dohz].

1. an armed scow, variously rigged, used as a floating battery during the American Revolution.

Word History and Origins

Origin of radeau¹

1750–60; < French: raft < Provençal radel < Vulgar Latin *ratellus, diminutive of Latin ratis raft

Example Sentences

The radeau, French for “raft,” was North America’s oldest warship.

From Washington Times

This story has been corrected to show the radeau’s name was “Land Tortoise” and it was sunk in Lake George, not Champlain.

From Washington Times

Easily depressed or elated, G�ricault took to heart the hostility which this work excited, and passed nearly two years in London, where the “Radeau” was exhibited with success, and where he executed many series of admirable lithographs now rare.

From Project Gutenberg

This abstraction and Mr. Pomare’s sculptural sense of space — his configurations are always interesting, often surprising — save “Radeau” from melodrama, despite the scream with which it ends.

From New York Times

Then three vessels under sail, and one at anchor above Split Rock, and behind it the radeau, Thunderer.

From Project Gutenberg