Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A swift Malayan sailboat with a triangular sail and single outrigger.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A kind of Malay vessel remarkable for swiftness, formerly much used by pirates in the Eastern Archipelago.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A sailing canoe of the Ladrone Islands and Malay Archipelago, having its lee side flat and its weather side like that of an ordinary boat. The ends are alike. The canoe is long and narrow, and is kept from overturning by a cigar-shaped log attached to a frame extending several feet to windward. It has been called the
flying proa , and is the swiftest sailing craft known.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A
sailing vessel found in the waters ofMicronesia andIndonesia ; it has a single, largeoutrigger and atriangular sail
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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His proa is the only vessel that is provided with a compass; it also has one or two swivels or small guns, and is perhaps armed with muskets.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 Phillip Parker King
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His proa is the only vessel provided with a compass; it also has one or two swivel or small guns, and is perhaps armed with musquets.
The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 Ernest Favenc 1876
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His mention at the bottom of page 19 of sailors immediately made me think of the degree of specialization in an 18th or 19th century man-of-war, compared to the very little division of labor in, for example, a trireme or a proa.
A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2009
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His mention at the bottom of page 19 of sailors immediately made me think of the degree of specialization in an 18th or 19th century man-of-war, compared to the very little division of labor in, for example, a trireme or a proa.
A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2009
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The traditional dugout canoe, proa, and catamaran used for fishing and marine transportation require high-quality hardwood.
Chapter 3 1987
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The traditional oru is a Pacific proa-type vessel with a single outrigger.
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One of our visitors was very communicative, and by means of signs and a few words of the Malay language, which we understood, he explained that their Rajah's proa was armed with two small guns, and carried a compass.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 Phillip Parker King
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A small coasting proa was seen to the northward but soon afterwards lost sight of, steering towards Timor.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 Phillip Parker King
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When we landed we found a piece of wood upon the beach with a nail-hole in it: it had probably been part of a Malay proa; for a fleet of such visitors, consisting of twenty-six vessels on the trepang fishery, was seen in this neighbourhood by the French in 1801; * and, according to their report, annually visit this part of the coast.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 Phillip Parker King
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Sunda, Banca, Rhio, Dryan, Malacca, and Singapore, since 1823, and have known some few European vessels and many native proas taken; but, in all my voyages up and down, I never saw a boat or proa that I felt certain was a pirate.
Trade and Travel in the Far East or Recollections of twenty-one years passed in Java, Singapore, Australia and China. G. F. Davidson
chained_bear commented on the word proa
"...contemplating the broad harbour with its great numbers of European ships, Chinese junks, Malay proas, and innumerable boats and canoes plying to and fro..."
—Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 177–178
March 4, 2008
reesetee commented on the word proa
A type of multi-hull sailing vessel consisting of two unequal-length parallel hulls, sailed so that one hull is kept to windward and the other to leeward--the boat's direction must be reversed when tacking.
March 4, 2008
yarb commented on the word proa
Time out of mind the piratical proas of the Malays, lurking among the low shaded coves and islets of Sumatra, have sallied out...
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 87
July 26, 2008