Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various relatively small, streamlined sailing or motor-driven vessels used for pleasure cruises or racing.
- intransitive verb To sail, cruise, or race in a yacht.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A vessel propelled either by sails or by steam, most often light or comparatively small, but sometimes of large size, used for pleasure-trips or for racing, or as a vessel of state to convey persons of distinction by water.
- To sail or cruise in a yacht.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A light and elegantly furnished vessel, used either for private parties of pleasure, or as a vessel of state to convey distinguished persons from one place to another; a seagoing vessel used only for pleasure trips, racing, etc.
- noun See the Note under
Tonnage , 4. - intransitive verb To manage a yacht; to voyage in a yacht.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A slick and light
ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock (Wikipedia). - noun Any vessel used for private, noncommercial purposes.
- verb intransitive To
sail ,voyage , orrace in a yacht.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an expensive vessel propelled by sail or power and used for cruising or racing
- verb travel in a yacht
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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Now when many individuals hear the term yacht club they see a collection of yacht owners gathering often to talk about their marine experiences.
BluWiki - Recent changes [en] Boatclub 2010
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Men stopped wearing hats overnight, and churches may empty in a heartbeat, but a yacht is forever.
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The yacht is capable of 45 miles an hour with its 4,000 horsepower engine and when the Italians try to make a getaway in their skiff, the Streak streaks for them, "pulsing and vibrating and roaring like a thing alive" until the thieves haul in their oars and surrender.
“. . .all his race rose up before him in a mighty phantasmagoria. . .” 2008
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The NEA spent $11,797 to charter a yacht from a Hollywood, Fla., company.
Sound Politics: Joni Balter: Washington's laziest editorial writer? 2006
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She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King of France missed his daughter they brought him tidings of her, saying, “Thy yacht is lost”; and he replied,
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The folk replied, O King, we have found ten men slain on the sea-shore, and the royal yacht is missing.
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At the time of her hiring, according to Anders, she asked HP to pay to move her yacht from the East Coast to the West Coast through the Panama Canal.
Books About Schnooks 2004
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At the time of her hiring, according to Anders, she asked HP to pay to move her yacht from the East Coast to the West Coast through the Panama Canal.
Books About Schnooks 2004
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Many people think that was his name because it's piratical, and so it was appropriate that he called his yacht Corsair.
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After that he called his yacht the _Gloria_, in imitation of her name, and sometimes took the girl out on the sea.
The Christian A Story Hall Caine 1892
sonofgroucho commented on the word yacht
What a strange little word this is!
October 29, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
It is, isn't it, SoG? I was curious so I checked the etymology. It comes from the Dutch jaght or jacht, as in jaghtschip, which literally meant "ship for chasing." Presumably not a pleasure craft as we think of it nowadays. :-)
October 29, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word yacht
That is cool. I wonder if by "chasing" they could also have meant "racing."
October 29, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
Possibly! The etymology mentions it in reference to "light sailing vessels" used especially for royalty, "fast piratical ships," and those used for hunting. Apparently the meaning shifted at some point to refer to racing craft as well.
October 29, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word yacht
Well, if you're a pirate, you'd naturally want a fast ship. And if you're a king, you'd also want the fastest ship you could get.
Let me pause here for a refreshing break.
"Every ship but your four fastest, you mean."
"Yes, naturally not those four."
Thank you. This break brought to you by the word page dulcet.
And the best way to show off a fast ship, if you're a pirate, is to hunt/catch a whole lotta others. But once the golden age of piracy is over, what's left to do? If you still like fast ships, I guess you need to start having yacht races.
October 29, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
Are you taking uselessness' madeupical etymology course, chained_bear? ;-)
October 29, 2007
uselessness commented on the word yacht
Actually, the word chasing refers to the pursuit of pleasure. Similar to the modern-day pleasure cruise, which is much slower than one might expect from "cruising." Of course the root of such phrases stems from Solomon's book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes, in which he declares that "everything is vanity, a chasing after the wind," inexorably tying the pleasures of the world to the breeze, and by extension, sailboats.
October 29, 2007
skipvia commented on the word yacht
I am without words, U.
October 29, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
You see? The man's an artist.
October 29, 2007
uselessness commented on the word yacht
What, every word of that was true! ;-)
October 29, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word yacht
...but what about pirates???
October 29, 2007
uselessness commented on the word yacht
What's the point? When not even death can stop true love, why bother? ;-)
October 29, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
WOW! Nice riposte and exquisite avoidance of the question! I doff my hat to you, sir.
Well, I'm not wearing one, but if I were, I'd be doffing, by God.
October 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
See cavalry (oddly enough) for some entertaining alternate spellings of this word.
October 30, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word yacht
I really like this word, and like the pronunciation and everything. But it looks like it feels, and kinda sounds, to throw up.
I don't know why.
October 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word yacht
Really? I think it looks snazzy.
October 30, 2007
mjk commented on the word yacht
Why isn't yacht spelled yaght like bight/Bucht, cough/Keuch, daughter/Tochter, eight/acht, freight/Fracht, haught/hoch, laughter/Lachter, might/Macht, naught/nichts, sought/sucht, weight/Gewicht, etc.?
December 22, 2009
bilby commented on the word yacht
There's a cafe by the marina here called Yotz. Does that help?
December 22, 2009
ruzuzu commented on the word yacht
You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht.
December 22, 2010