Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A fast, lightly armed warship, smaller than a destroyer, often armed for antisubmarine operations.
- n. An obsolete sailing warship, smaller than a frigate, usually armed with one tier of guns.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A wooden ship of war, flush-decked, frigate-rigged, and having only One tier of guns. The term was originally applied to vessels of burden, with reference to the corbita, or basket, carried at the mastheads of Egyptian grain-ships.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical, historical A flush-decked warship of the 17th-18th centuries having a single tier of guns; it ranked next below a frigate; -- called in the United States navy a sloop of war.
- n. nautical In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a highly maneuverable escort warship; smaller than a destroyer
Etymologies
- Borrowing from French corvette. (Wiktionary)
- French, a kind of warship, probably from Middle Dutch corf, basket, small ship; see corf. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The _Iroquois_ and her sisters, built in the fifties, were vessels of the kind to which I have applied the term corvette, then very common in all navies; cruisers only; scouts, or commerce-destroyers.”
“The English did not apply the term corvette to brigs, but designated such two-masted vessels as brigs-of-war, though they are sometimes spoken of as brig-sloops.”
“A corvette is so much smaller than a destroyer that I remember going aboard a destroyer a while back, after a spell in a corvette, and congratulating the Captain on the enormous size of his ship.”
“The corvette is a smart-looking vessel, of 1200 tons burden, and barque rigged.”
“A corvette is a vessel slightly smaller than a frigate and is suited mainly for coastal protection work.”
“She nodded and held out what the folk of Mejis called a corvette - "little packet" was the literal definition; "little purse" was the practical one.”
“Mediterranean to look out for a French and Spanish squadron, which had been on the coast of Portugal, but returned to Ferrol --- I received all your letters by the Turkish corvette, which is arrived at Messina.”
The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Volume 2
“I myself have usually called them by the French name corvette, which has a recognized place in English marine phraseology, and means a sloop-of-war of the smaller class.”
“This all-purpose nature determined its classification: instead of being given third rank common for Russian ships, such as small hunter-killer, small missile boat, etc., the new ship was classified as a corvette, which, according to Western standard, is an all-purpose warship.”
“The corvette is a great driver's car but man …. leaf springs and a walmart interior?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘corvette’.
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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Out to Sea
If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat.boat, ship, skiff, barge, canoe, catamaran, yacht, scow, lifeboat, launch, ketch, dory and 303 more...
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Rose varieties
Rosarians have names for thousands of varieties of roses.
holy toledo, gourmet popcorn, apple jack, barbara bush, burning desire, hot tamale, tradescant, sweet surrender, sweet chariot, pinocchio, oyster pearl, olympiad and 309 more...
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and Bristol fashion
being items related to boats, ships, sailing, nautical and naval lore &c.
sloop, frigate, brigantine, brig, grog, schooner, rig, sail, canvas, jib, forestay, cutter and 150 more...
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vari-ettes
ranchette, vinette, towelette, rosette, septette, silhouette, pirouette, roomette, roulette, omelette, majorette, gazette and 52 more...
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the shipwright
Floating and water vessels of all sorts.
mothership, frigate, xebec, ship-of-the-line, sloop, schooner, cutter, clipper, coracle, skiff, dhow, junk and 40 more...
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About ship
tacking, astern, cruise, keel, gimbals, careen, envelop, binnacle, stemson, taffrail, corvette, slue and 7 more...
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travelling
dirigible, nautilus, tireme, odyssey, timeship, spaceship, jet, car, jeep, phaeton, truck, lightship and 58 more...
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Transportation
monoplane, cabriolet, phaeton, argosy, coracle, sampan, Ventiports, wedgehead, sweepspear, fuselage, trafficator, barouche and 70 more...
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January List
outlier, corvette, hagiography, solipsist, fecklessness, insouciance, bereft, salvific
Tweets
Looking for tweets for corvette.
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