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  1. pontoon love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A floating structure, such as a flatbottom boat, that is used to support a bridge.
  2. n. A floating structure serving as a dock.
  3. n. A float on a seaplane.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In milit engin., a flat-bottomed boat, or any light framework or floating structure, used in the construction of a temporary bridge over a river. One form of pontoon is a hollow cylinder of tin-plate, with hemispherical ends, divided by several longitudinal and transverse partitions to act as braces and to prevent sinking if pierced by a shot or accidentally. Another is in the form of a decked canoe, consisting of a timber frame covered with sheetcopper, and formed in two distinct parts, which are locked together for use and dislocated for transportation, and also divided into air-tight chambers.
  2. n. Nautical, a lighter; a low flat vessel resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, and other machinery, used in careening ships, chiefly in the Mediterranean.
  3. n. In hydraulic engineering: A water-tight structure or frame placed beneath a submerged vessel and then filled with air to assist in refloating the vessel.
  4. n. A water-tight structure which is sunk by filling with water and raised by pumping it out, used to close a sluiceway or entrance to a dock. Also spelled ponton.
  5. n. In anatomy, a loop or knuckle of the small intestine: so called from the way it appears to float in the abdominal cavity. See the quotation under mesentery.
  6. n. In brewing, one of the cleansing-rounds or cleansing-squares used for clarifying ale.
  7. n. Same as catamaran, 4.

Wiktionary

  1. n. card games A card game in which the object is to obtain cards whose value adds up to, or nearly to, 21 but not exceed it.
  2. n. military A flat-bottomed boat used as a support for a temporary bridge.
  3. n. A floating structure supporting a bridge or dock.
  4. n. A box used to raise a sunken vessel.
  5. n. A float of a seaplane.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Mil.) A wooden flat-bottomed boat, a metallic cylinder, or a frame covered with canvas, India rubber, etc., forming a portable float, used in building bridges quickly for the passage of troops.
  2. n. (Naut.) A low, flat vessel, resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, and other machinery, used in careening ships, raising weights, drawing piles, etc., chiefly in the Mediterranean; a lighter.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a float supporting a seaplane
  2. n. (nautical) a floating structure (as a flat-bottomed boat) that serves as a dock or to support a bridge

Etymologies

  1. Probably from vingt-un, an obsolete variant of vingt-et-un, from French, literally ‘twenty-one’. (Wiktionary)
  2. French ponton, from Old French, from Latin pontō, pontōn-, floating bridge, from pōns, pont-, bridge. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “It could very well have been "pontoon" on a different day.”

    Archive 2008-12-01

  • “Other games are "crown and anchor", which is a dice game, and "pontoon", which is a card game similar to "twenty-one" or "seven and a half.”

    A Yankee in the Trenches

  • “So I turn to the "pontoon," a composite dish containing everything in the world which is edible and savoury, and I ask the Cook-Sergeant why we cannot get that sort of thing in peace time, pay what we will.”

    Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, September 23, 1914

  • “Huge industrial cranes lifted the 120-year-old vessel from the slipway on Lowestoft's north quay on to the 50m long pontoon which is going to support the ship for years to come.”

    EDP24 News

  • “With the first new post-war cars, the 1947 Studebaker shows trends that would shape the era: the "pontoon" all-enveloping body restrained by functionally unnecessary vestigial rear "fenders" and a bright accent line where the running board used to be.”

    The Truth About Cars

  • “Yes | No | Report from countitandone wrote 25 weeks 4 days ago oh yeah ~ wearing my beige crocs while on the water (pontoon) has made an uncomfortable task (water skeeter fins) comfortable.”

    A Big Croc of...

  • “From a distance ferries and a pontoon could be seen shuttling survivors, in bright orange life vests, to the forested island used by the ruling Labor Party for political functions, camping and celebrations.”

    USA Today: Survivors return to Norway's Utoya Island

  • “His motorcycle is parked in one corner and our pontoon and fishing gear in the other.”

    Simon & Schuster: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grieving and Recovery

Lists

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‘pontoon’ has been looked up 1556 times, loved by 2 people, added to 22 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 9.