Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small armed vessel.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A boat or small vessel fitted to carry one or more guns of large caliber, and from its light draft capable of running close inshore or up rivers; also, any small vessel carrying guns.
- noun In coal-mining, a self-dumping box on wheels, used for raising coal on slopes, and holding three or four tons of coal. It resembles a “skip,” but runs on wheels, and not between guides.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Nav.) A vessel of light draught, carrying one or more guns, used for operations in shallow waters.
- noun (Nav.) Any small naval vessel carrying mounted guns.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical Any of various types of small
armed vessel
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a small shallow-draft boat carrying mounted guns; used by costal patrols
Etymologies
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Examples
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Turkey is not a world power and they are not going to engage in gunboat diplomacy just to satisfy your desire to get even with Israel.
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Turkey is not a world power and they are not going to engage in gunboat diplomacy just to satisfy your desire to get even with Israel.
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She recalled her gunboat and as a concession to obtain peace, was permitted to acquire some territory in the French Congo country.
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Another gunboat was the "Presidente," which had figured in history, for it was nothing less than the yacht "Deerhound," on which the Confederate Admiral
Santo Domingo A Country with a Future Otto Schoenrich
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He was divided between pleasure at his success, and sorrow that the castaways were as yet unrelieved, for he could not doubt that the gunboat was the same that had been dispatched from Brisbane to their assistance.
Round the World in Seven Days Herbert Strang
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One of my officers has already been asked 'If we would not burn our gunboats as soon as the army left?' speaking as if a gunboat was a very ordinary affair, and could be burned with indifference.
Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War Richard Taylor
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Peese soon got into trouble, however, and when a number of merchants who had been despoiled had succeeded in proving that his gunboat was a worse terror to them than the pirates whom he worried, he disappeared for a time.
Concerning "Bully" Hayes From "The Strange Adventure Of James Shervinton and Other Stories" - 1902 Louis Becke 1884
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One of my officers has already been asked 'If we would not burn our gunboats as soon as the army left?' speaking as if a gunboat was a very ordinary affair, and could be burned with indifference.
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The gunboat was a large one, and carried two midshipmen besides
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The two ladies who had come off in the gunboat were the lady who was said to have detained Mr. Frôler so long in Saigon, and her mother; and they were treated with the utmost consideration by all.
Four Young Explorers or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics Oliver Optic 1859
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