boat Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a small vessel for travel on water
  2. noun a dish (often boat-shaped) for serving gravy or sauce
    gravy holder; sauceboat; gravy boat.
  3. verb ride in a boat on water

WordNet

Boat noun
Etymology
OE. boot, bat, AS. bat; akin to Icel. batr, Sw. båt, Dan. baad, D.& G. boot. Cf. Bateau.
Definitions
  1. A small open vessel, or water craft, usually moved by cars or paddles, but often by a sail. ✍ Different kinds of boats have different names; as, canoe, yawl, wherry, pinnace, punt, etc.
  2. Hence, any vessel; usually with some epithet descriptive of its use or mode of propulsion; as, pilot boat, packet boat, passage boat, advice boat, etc. The term is sometimes applied to steam vessels, even of the largest class; as, the Cunard boats.
  3. A vehicle, utensil, or dish, somewhat resembling a boat in shape; as, a stone boat; a gravy boat. ✍ Boat is much used either adjectively or in combination; as, boat builder or boatbuilder; boat building or boatbuilding; boat hook or boathook; boathouse; boat keeper or boatkeeper; boat load; boat race; boat racing; boat rowing; boat song; boatlike; boat-shaped.
Boat transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Boated; present participle & verbal noun Boating
Definitions
  1. To transport in a boat; as, to boat goods.
  2. To place in a boat; as, to boat oars.
Boat intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To go or row in a boat.
    I boated over, ran my craft aground. Tennyson.

Webster 1913