narrowboatn.
/ˈnarəʊbəʊt/, U.S. /ˈnɛroʊˌboʊt/ A canal boat of traditional long, narrow design, steered with a tiller; spec. one not exceeding 7 feet (approx. 2.1 metres) in width or 72 feet (approx. 21.9 metres) in length.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > canal boat
trekschuit1696
canal boat1770
narrowboat1836
fly-boat1841
monkey boat1885
canaller1887
1836 Knickerbocker July 74 The contrast between the spacious cabins of the Hudson steamers, and the low narrow boats on the canal..is unhappily too striking.
1861 S. Smiles Lives Engineers II. viii. x. 421 It [sc. the tunnel] was little larger than a sewer, and admitted the passage of only one narrow boat, seven feet wide, at a time, involving very heavy labour on the part of the men who worked it through.
1944 L. T. C. Rolt Narrow Boat 206 Ram's head, the boatman's name for the wooden rudder post of a narrow boat.
1951 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IV. 37/2 The narrow boat, or ‘monkey boat’.., is possibly the commonest craft on inland waterways in England.
1975 Times 8 Mar. 10/6 Some of the older narrow boats with a three-foot draught are constantly ploughing through mud, for the canals are silted up.
1998 Canal Boat & Inland Waterways Aug. 49/1 (advt.) Bow thrusters make going astern in a narrowboat so easy!
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1836