boat: Meaning and Definition of

boat

1. a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.
2. a small ship, generally for specialized use: a fishing boat.
3. a small vessel carried for use by a large one, as a lifeboat: They lowered the boats for evacuation.
4. a ship.
5. a vessel of any size built for navigation on a river or other inland body of water.
6. a serving dish resembling a boat: a gravy boat; a celery boat.
7. a container for holding incense before it is placed in the censer.
8. in the same circumstances; faced with the same problems: The new recruits were all in the same boat.
9. He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college.
1. to fail to take advantage of an opportunity:He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college.
2. to miss the point of; fail to understand:I missed the boat on that explanation.
10. See(def. 12).

1. to go in a boat: We boated down the Thames.

1. to transport in a boat: They boated us across the bay.
2. to remove (an oar) from the water and place athwartships. Cf. ship (def. 11).