bumboat

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“
I was passin' up the coast on a good-for-nothin' little bumboat, an' seen you in distress, so me an' a friend swum over to give you the double O. You're in a bad way, sir Two hundred and eighty-seven days from Hamburg, Mr. Gibney. Our vegetables gave out and we drank too much rain water and ate too much fresh fish down in the Doldrums.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A small boat used to peddle provisions to ships anchored offshore.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • A little bumboat, its motor making a noise like a fusillade, was going from ship to ship, selling bread, spices, tobacco, pipes, and schnapps. —  Maigret in Holland-Georges Simenon-08
  • We were anchored out in the bay and for some time our amusement was provided by bumboat-men and diving-boys who came out to the ship in their own little craft and touted vociferously for our spare cash. —  Nest Of Vipers-Gladys Mitchell-Bradley 55
  • On Tuesday we took a 'bumboat' trip on the Singapore River down to Merlion Park. —  TravelPod.com Recent Updates
  • Young Brothers has been providing a shipping lifeline to our islands for more than 100 years, ever since our founders William and Jack Young started a "bumboat" business in 1900.
  • The "bumboat," laden with delicious fruits and every kind of fresh provender to tempt the Blue jacket and hungry midshipman--in my own days, utterly sick of the "salt-horse" (salt meat) and weevilly biscuit; but now, alas! —  Fair Italy, the Riviera and Monte Carlo Comprising a Tour Through North and South Italy and Sicily with a Short Account of Malta
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Probably partial translation of Low German bumboot, ship's boat, partial translation of Dutch dialectal bomschuit, small fishing boat : bom, ship's bottom (from Dutch bodem, from Middle Dutch) + schuit, ship.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = Danish bumbaad, apparently from D. “bumboot, a very wide boat used by fishers in South Holland and Flanders, also for taking a pilot to a ship: Roding, Marine Dict.” (Wedgwood), prob. from Dutch bun, a cauf or receptacle for keeping fish alive, Old Dutch bon, a chest, box, cask (cf. Middle Dutch bunne, bonne, a hatchway), + boot, boat. Or perhaps orig. D. *boomboot, equivalent to Middle Dutch, Dutch boomschip (= Middle Low German bōmschip, Low German boomschip = German baumschiff), a boat made out of a single tree, a fisherman's boat, canoe, from boom, a tree (= English beam), + schip = English ship: see beam, boom, and ship.
 

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/ˈbəmboʊt/
by American Heritage

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