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  1. sampan love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A flatbottom Asian skiff usually propelled by two oars.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A small boat used on the coasts of China, Japan, and Java, corresponding to the skiff of Europe and America, and propelled with either sculls or a sail. It is sometimes provided with a fore-and-aft roofing of mats, affording shelter and habitation for a family.

Wiktionary

  1. n. nautical A flat-bottomed Chinese wooden boat propelled by two oars.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Naut.) A Chinese boat from twelve to fifteen feet long, covered with a house, and sometimes used as a permanent habitation on the inland waters.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an Asian skiff usually propelled by two oars

Etymologies

  1. From Sinitic 舢舨 (shānbǎn) (Wiktionary)
  2. Chinese (Cantonese) saam-paán, equivalent to Chinese (Mandarin) sān, three + bacaron.gifn, board. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “But the sampan was already by us and wasn't stopping.”

    Tour of Duty

  • “The surf, through which it is carried in an open boat, called a sampan lonchore, renders such accidents unavoidable.”

    The History of Sumatra Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And Manners Of The Native Inhabitants

  • “The word "sampan" literally means "three planks" in Cantonese, from the words sam (三, three) and pan (板, plank). [”

    Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories

  • “From the depot he hurried through the quaint Japanese streets to the harbor, and hired a sampan boatman to put him aboard a certain vessel whose familiar rigging had quickly caught his eye.”

    The Lost Poacher

  • “And this was one gale of three in the course of those eight days in the sampan.”

    SMALL-BOAT SAILING

  • “The point is that I was in an open boat, a sampan, on a rocky coast where there were no light-houses and where the tides rip.”

    SMALL-BOAT SAILING

  • “The next day, when Alf started to go ashore, he found himself surrounded by shouting and gesticulating, though very respectful, sampan men, all extraordinarily anxious to have him for a passenger.”

    In Yeddo Bay

  • “A dozen sampan men and boys hailed Alf and offered their services.”

    In Yeddo Bay

  • “And for the rest of the Annie Mine's stay in port, the sampan men refused money at Alf Davis's hand.”

    In Yeddo Bay

  • “He also said he knew the sampan men to be natural-born robbers, but that so long as they robbed within the law he was powerless.”

    In Yeddo Bay

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hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. skiff

same context (20)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. steamboat
  2. early-rising
  3. dromond
  4. single-bladed
  1. finlike
  2. prepress
  3. four-mile
  4. narrow-bladed
  1. defibrillator
  2. tem-wood
  3. gondale
  4. hackman
  1. ironwood
  2. caravel
  3. 000-mile
  4. unk
  1. roller coaster
  2. self-adjoint
  3. lakeshore
  4. swift-moving

reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. sanpan
  1. champana

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. nautical
  1. ship
  1. maritime

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Lists

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Comments

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  • jaime_d "The sampan pilot from Siogama to Ishinomaki, the postman galloping from Kyoto to Ogaki, what do they travel but time?" from "Fifty-seven Views of Fujiyama" by Guy Davenport Jan 18, 2010

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‘sampan’ has been looked up 1350 times, added to 9 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 10.