motor-boatv.
/ˈməʊtəbəʊt/, U.S. /ˈmoʊdərˌboʊt/ 1. intransitive. To drive or travel in a motor boat.
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society > travel > travel by water > [verb (intransitive)] > in specific type of craft
to barge it1599
boat?1630
canoe1732
shallop1737
raft1741
scow1749
steam1832
yacht1836
screw1840
steamer1866
gondole1874
kayak1875
sail1898
tramp1899
motor-boat1903
barge1909
hover1962
power1964
motor1968
jet-ski1978
1903 Rudder Nov. 591/1 If you want to motor-boat, it is not for me to say you nay. Every man to his own way of enjoying life.
1922 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 409 The scenery through which he tramped or motor-boated.
1970 Nature 28 Nov. 797/2 Two men motor-boating on the loch collided with a large object.
1997 New Yorker 26 May 45/1 I often rented a room in a dilapidated old hotel on Lake Jefferson,..a smallish..somewhat shallow lake, where no one motorboated or water-skied.
2. intransitive. Electronics. Of an amplifier: to exhibit motor-boating (see motor-boating n. 2).
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > phenomena [verb (intransitive)] > oscillate > in specific way
self-oscillate1926
motor-boat1932
squeg1939
ring1952
1932 F. E. Terman Radio Engin. vii. 277 Amplifiers receiving their plate voltage from a common dry battery have a tendency to motor-boat when the batteries are near the end of their useful life, particularly when the amplification is high.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1903