Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A long rowboat, pointed at both ends and designed to move and turn swiftly, formerly used in the pursuit and harpooning of whales.
- n. A boat similar to such a rowboat in size and shape; a whaler.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A long narrow boat, sharp at both ends, and. fitted for steering with an oar as well as with a rudder, used in the pursuit of whales, and, from its handy and seaworthy qualities, also for many other purposes. It is usually from 20 to 30 feet long. A pair of these boats is commonly carried by ocean passenger-steamers, in addition to their heavier boats.
Wiktionary
- n. A long narrow rowing boat, formerly used in whaling, which is pointed at both ends so that it can move either forwards or backwards equally well.
- n. A boat resembling this and carried on a warship or other ship.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A long, narrow boat, sharp at both ends, used by whalemen.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a long narrow boat designed for quick turning and use in rough seas
Examples
“Not from any sailor in whaleboat or launch could he accept, or would he be offered, a bit of biscuit or an invitation to go ashore for a run.”
“When the whaleboat was alongside, he descended into it first, superiorly, then invited Nau-hau to accompany him.”
“The whaleboat was my own, and as I thought of her, I felt pleased that my employers, who were as mean as Polish Jews, would not get to windward of me as far as she was concerned.”
“At one o'clock, P.m., therefore, Fox and his comrades set off in the whaleboat, which is represented as small in size, and crazy in condition.”
Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains
“At one o'clock, P.M., therefore, Fox and his comrades set off in the whaleboat, which is represented as small in size, and crazy in condition.”
Astoria, or, anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains
“As before, the captive Fuatino men towed in the whaleboat.”
“The Huahine women, laughing and giggling, were holding on to the sides of the whaleboat which had done the towing.”
“The schooner, moving slowly, jerk by jerk, as the men pulled in the whaleboat, was almost directly beneath.”
“By canoe and whaleboat, on foot and donkey-back, the five thousand inhabitants of Fitu-Iva had trooped in.”
“You're behaving handsomely, Mr. Hall, I must say," Captain Raffy volunteered, as the whaleboat came alongside the Uncle Toby.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘whaleboat’.
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boat phrases/words
how boat is used
boat basin, boat bed, boat bedding, boat-bone, boat bridge, boat chain, boat chock, boat cloak, boat club, boat cover, boat cradle, boat crew and 140 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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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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whaling terms
Terms defined in the glossary of Clifford W. Ashley's "Yankee Whaler".
advance, adze, after house, after oar, agent, air up, alow, ambergris, apeak, article, away, bailer and 299 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for whaleboat.
chained_bear "Their vessels, after all, were not cumbersome, run-of-the-mill lifeboats; these were whaleboats, high-performance craft that had been designed for the open ocean. Made of light, half-inch-thick cedar planks, a whaleboat possessed the buoyancy required to ride over rather than through the waves. 'I would not have exchanged my boat, old and crazy as she was,' Chase claimed, 'for even a ship's launch,' the sturdy type of craft in which, three decades earlier, Captain Bligh had sailed more than four thousand miles after the Bounty mutiny."
--Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, 99 May 1, 2008