playboatn.
/ˈpleɪbəʊt/, U.S. /ˈpleɪˌboʊt/ 1.
a. A toy or model boat.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > other toys > [noun] > others
spurc1450
cock1608
turnel1621
corala1625
house of cardsa1625
Jack-in-the-box1659
(Prince) Rupert's Drops1662
sucker1681
whirligig1686
playbook1694
card house1733
snapper1788
card castle1792
Aaron's bells?1795
Noah's Ark1807
Jacob's ladder1820
cat-stairs1825
daisy chain1841
beanbag1861
playboat1865
piñata1868
teething ring1872
weet-weet1878
tumble-over1883
water cracker1887
jumping-bean1889
play money1894
serpentin1894
comforter1898
pacifier1901
dummy1903
bubble water1904
yo-yo1915
paper airplane1921
snowstorm1926
titty1927
teaser1935
Slinky1948
teether1949
Mr Potato Head1952
squeeze toy1954
Frisbee1957
mobile1957
chew toy1959
water-rocket1961
Crazy Foam1965
playshop1967
war toy1973
waterball1974
pull-along1976
transformer1984
Aerobie1985
1865 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 48/2 He..averred also that our schooner, at the distance of three hundred yards, would be rolled over, like a child's play-boat, by the wave which an exploding or oversetting iceberg would cause.
1891 G. D. McLeod Stories of Land of Evangeline xi. 276 Seizing the canoe as if it were a play boat, she launched it at once.
1920 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 50 82 Müller..gives an illustration of a toy sailing canoe... The playboat figured by Krämer..from the Gilbert Islands appears to be very similar.
2002 Women & Lang. (Electronic ed.) 25 Spring The boys are steering the play boat while girls are playing around a play boat constructed by the boys.
b. Chiefly British. A replica boat in a children's play area.
ΚΠ
1960 Times 21 Nov. (Canada Suppl.) p. xvii/4 There is a play-boat for children on the shore.
1989 A. Aird 1990 Good Pub Guide 171 A well serviced children's play area, with a swing, playboat and aviary.., and a play elephant called Eric.
2003 North Devon Jrnl. (Nexis) 18 Sept. 5 The shopping centre is now hosting parties at the Atlantis fun park.., including use of the sky-bounce trampolines, playboat and children's undercover play area.
2.
a. A boat designed for leisure or children's use.In quot. 1873: (perhaps) a permanently moored vessel used for social events or for maritime training.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > pleasure vessel > [noun]
pleasure boat1654
pleasure craft1846
playboat1873
pleasure cruiser1891
1873 Times 29 Sept. 11/2 Horton eventually reached the play-boat at the top of Chiswick Eyot, a clever winner.., having rowed a steady stroke from the commencement.
1922 Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 6 Nov. 5/2 The Island Queen, summer play boat of a generation of Cincinnati, is a charred ruin.
1937 Helena (Montana) Independent 9 Jan. 7/6 I bought a four-foot play boat for $15.
1976 G. Black Moon for Killers i. 7 That is not a playboat. I had it built..to do a specific job, which is checking up on my junk fleet.
1996 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 22 Aug. Strive to keep the harbor open for working fishermen and place the ‘play boats’ further out in the harbor.
b. A short, manoeuvrable kayak designed for performing stunts in white water.
ΚΠ
1988 Boating Industry (Nexis) Sept. 176 The Dagger Canoe Company..has introduced its Caper, a 14 ft 3 in solo whitewater playboat. The model is designed to provide stability, dryness, and speed. The Caper has a shallow-arch hull, composite rocker curve, and elliptical waterline entry. Extreme fullness at the ends gives it a dry ride without excessive beam or depth.
1990 Canoe Dec. 14/2 The most exciting import was..a two-person whitewater kayak playboat.
1998 Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail (Nexis) 31 July 1 d With the advent of ‘playboats’ specially designed for maneuverability, kayakers can perform radical maneuvers across the faces of those waves.
2002 Vancouver Province (Nexis) 16 May b5 Squamish also offers excitement at this time of year to creekers—kayakers who get their thrills by dropping their short playboats into the tumbling Cheekeye, Ashlu and other local creeks.
Derivatives
ˈplayboater n. a person involved in playboating.
ΚΠ
1991 Canoe Mar. 27/3 Local playboaters put-in below the cascading, 80-foot Great Falls..where they catch two regionally-famous kayak and canoe surfing spots.
2003 Nelson (N.Z.) Mail (Nexis) 12 Feb. 29 The book also contains a new section on kayaking spots where people can ‘park and play’—a concession to the growing wave of playboaters who would rather spend hours at one particularly fun wave or hole than do a lengthy river run.
ˈplayboating n. the sport or activity of canoeing in a playboat.
ΚΠ
1990 Re: Boats for Short People in rec.boats.paddle (Usenet newsgroup) 18 July The assistant is a friendly chap called Ian who is into playboating.
2001 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 25 Mar. 20 It's a new facet of the sport, playboating, which Ross is keen to concentrate on in the future. In May, he is heading up to the Etive in Glencoe for his first Extreme race, where freestyle tricks are the order of the day.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1865