boat-boyn.
/ˈbəʊtbɔɪ/, U.S. /ˈboʊtˌbɔɪ/ 1. A boy engaged to help to operate or pilot a boat; a boatman's assistant or apprentice.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > boatman or waterman > boy
boat-boy1637
water boy1722
1637 N. Whiting Le Hore di Recreatione 29 Some sayd the Boat-boy did delude their traine.
1820 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 3 207 He thinks, that a choice set of boat-boys..might be hired at Cape Coast and Anna Maboe.
1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 78 One day I set out with a boat-boy to sail and row to Ely.
1977 J. Lee Tales Boatmen Told p. iv Faithful mules and horses, they toiled so hard and long, pulling heavy canal boats, while boatboys walked along.
2004 I. McDonald River of Gods (2005) xxxiii. 376 The boat-boy reaches for the oars to keep the little shell from spilling its passengers into the Ganga water.
2. Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Church. An altar boy who carries the incense boat during services, accompanying the thurifer carrying the censer. Cf. boat-bearer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > person in minor orders > acolyte > [noun] > bearing incense
ship-bearer?c1450
boat-bearer1839
boat-boy1902
1902 P. Dearmer Parson's Handbk. (ed. 4) vi. 245 There is no English authority for a ‘boat-boy’ to accompany the thurifer.
1984 C. Hope Kruger's Alp i. 2 Blanchaille had stood with his boat boy, Mickey the Poet, beside him, fumigating the first few rows of the congregation with pungent incense.
2006 G. Nyarota Against Grain iii. 49 I had trained as an altar boy at St. Faith's, helping the priest at mass every Wednesday and Sunday morning. I was the boat-boy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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