Boat (�), n. [OE. boot, bat, AS. bāt; akin to Icel. bātr, Sw. båt, Dan. baad, D. & G. boot. Cf. Bateau.]
1. A small open vessel, or water craft, usually moved by cars or paddles, but often by a sail.
☞ Different kinds of boats have different names; as, canoe, yawl, wherry, pinnace, punt, etc.
2. Hence, any vessel; usually with some epithet descriptive of its use or mode of propulsion; as, pilot boat, packet boat, passage boat, advice boat, etc. The term is sometimes applied to steam vessels, even of the largest class; as, the Cunard boats.
3. A vehicle, utensil, or dish, somewhat resembling a boat in shape; as, a stone boat; a gravy boat.
☞ Boat is much used either adjectively or in combination; as, boat builder or boatbuilder; boat building or boatbuilding; boat hook or boathook; boathouse; boat keeper or boatkeeper; boat load; boat race; boat racing; boat rowing; boat song; boatlike; boat-shaped.
Advice boat. See under Advice. — Boat hook(Naut.), an iron hook with a point on the back, fixed to a long pole, to pull or push a boat, raft, log, etc. Totten. — Boat rope, a rope for fastening a boat; — usually called a painter. — In the same boat, in the same situation or predicament. F. W. Newman.