Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Canada & New England A long, light, flatbottom boat with a sharply pointed bow and stern.
- noun South Atlantic & Gulf States A small, light, flatbottom rowboat.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A light boat for river navigation, long in proportion to its breadth, and wider in the middle than at the ends.
- noun A pontoon of a floating bridge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A boat; esp. a flat-bottomed, clumsy boat used on the Canadian lakes and rivers.
- noun a floating bridge supported by bateaux.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small, flat-bottomed type of
boat .
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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A boat neck - also known as a bateau neck - refers to a wide neckline that runs horizontally, front and back, almost to the shoulders.
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The bateau is a thin flat wafer that flies very fast and then rotates in midair so the shooter can see it and get a shot off.
unknown title 2009
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The common punt is the best known form of it; the dory by far the handiest all round; the cargo barge the biggest; and the old-fashioned 'bateau' the most characteristically Canadian.
All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways William Charles Henry Wood 1905
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The modern 'bateau' is to be found only among keeled sailing craft.
All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways William Charles Henry Wood 1905
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A moment more, and -- as he saw Sandy step out of the "bateau" with the boy, now sobbing feebly, in his arms -- he knew that his vengeance had been made for ever impossible.
Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901
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The young man clung rather faintly to the supporting planks, as if he had overstrained himself; and two or three hands, who had already shoved off a "bateau," pushed out and picked him up with his burden.
Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901
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A day came when Leclère gathered his dogs together and floated down in a bateau to Forty Mile, and on to the Porcupine, where he took a commission from the P.C. Company, and went exploring for the better part of a year.
BÂTARD 2010
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The name of this friendly looking restaurant, is taken from the title of a sombre poem “Le bateau ivre”.
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“Le bateau ivre” is a poem written by Arthur Rimbault in 1872, about a drunken boat carrying Flemish wheat or English cotton, no longer pulled by ropes and floating down impassible rivers, running into the furious breakers of the sea, dancing on the waves, lighter than a cork, bathing in the Poem of the Sea, nacrous waves, silver suns ... piercing the red skies …
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Then canoe and bateau answered to the swift current of the Mackenzie, and they plunged into the Great Barren Ground.
In a Far Country 2010
chained_bear commented on the word bateau
"The previous day Jones had discovered two Union cavalrymen lurking near his little bateau at Pope's Creek."
--James L. Swanson, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, 179
May 30, 2008