Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A floating structure, such as a flatbottom boat, used to support a bridge.
- noun A floating structure serving as a dock.
- noun Either of two floating structures attached to a seaplane.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In milit engin., a flat-bottomed boat, or any light framework or floating structure, used in the construction of a temporary bridge over a river.
- noun Nautical, a lighter; a low flat vessel resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, and other machinery, used in careening ships, chiefly in the Mediterranean.
- noun In hydraulic engineering: A water-tight structure or frame placed beneath a submerged vessel and then filled with air to assist in refloating the vessel.
- noun A water-tight structure which is sunk by filling with water and raised by pumping it out, used to close a sluiceway or entrance to a dock. Also spelled
ponton . - noun In anatomy, a loop or knuckle of the small intestine: so called from the way it appears to float in the abdominal cavity. See the quotation under mesentery.
- noun In brewing, one of the cleansing-rounds or cleansing-squares used for clarifying ale.
- noun Same as
catamaran , 4.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mil.) A wooden flat-bottomed boat, a metallic cylinder, or a frame covered with canvas, India rubber, etc., forming a portable float, used in building bridges quickly for the passage of troops.
- noun (Naut.) A low, flat vessel, resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, and other machinery, used in careening ships, raising weights, drawing piles, etc., chiefly in the Mediterranean; a lighter.
- noun a bridge formed with pontoons.
- noun the carriages of the pontoons, and the materials they carry for making a pontoon bridge.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun military A flat-bottomed
boat used as asupport for atemporary bridge . - noun A
floating structure supporting a bridge ordock . - noun A box used to raise a
sunken vessel . - noun A float of a
seaplane . - noun card games A card game in which the object is to obtain cards whose value adds up to, or nearly to, 21 but not exceed it.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a float supporting a seaplane
- noun (nautical) a floating structure (as a flat-bottomed boat) that serves as a dock or to support a bridge
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The party boat is what we called the pontoon boat.
unknown title 2008
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It could very well have been "pontoon" on a different day.
Archive 2008-12-01 Kate 2008
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It could very well have been "pontoon" on a different day.
Reading, Writing, Cooking and Crafting: Christmas meats Kate 2008
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Other games are "crown and anchor", which is a dice game, and "pontoon", which is a card game similar to "twenty-one" or "seven and a half."
A Yankee in the Trenches Robert Derby Holmes
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So I turn to the "pontoon," a composite dish containing everything in the world which is edible and savoury, and I ask the Cook-Sergeant why we cannot get that sort of thing in peace time, pay what we will.
Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, September 23, 1914 Various
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Huge industrial cranes lifted the 120-year-old vessel from the slipway on Lowestoft's north quay on to the 50m long pontoon which is going to support the ship for years to come.
EDP24 News 2010
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With the first new post-war cars, the 1947 Studebaker shows trends that would shape the era: the "pontoon" all-enveloping body restrained by functionally unnecessary vestigial rear "fenders" and a bright accent line where the running board used to be.
The Truth About Cars Paul Niedermeyer 2010
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To that end, it wears husky, squared-off sheet metal, an upright roof, and creased "pontoon" fenders similar to those on the new GLK crossover ( "a new Mercedes schtick," offers design editor Robert Cumberford).
unknown title 2009
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Yes | No | Report from countitandone wrote 25 weeks 4 days ago oh yeah ~ wearing my beige crocs while on the water (pontoon) has made an uncomfortable task (water skeeter fins) comfortable.
A Big Croc of... 2009
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Yes | No | Report from countitandone wrote 25 weeks 4 days ago oh yeah ~ wearing my beige crocs while on the water (pontoon) has made an uncomfortable task (water skeeter fins) comfortable.
A Big Croc of... 2009
bilby commented on the word pontoon
Satisfying amount of o's.
February 5, 2019
ruzuzu commented on the word pontoon
Just got cohomology as a random word and thought of this.
February 6, 2019
qms commented on the word pontoon
Cohorts of bold coho croon on top of pontoons.
February 6, 2019
bilby commented on the word pontoon
Oooo!
February 7, 2019
ruzuzu commented on the word pontoon
*swoons*
February 8, 2019