steamboatn.
1. A boat propelled by steam; esp. a coasting or river steamer of considerable size, carrying either passengers or goods. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > mechanically propelled vessels > [noun] > propelled by steam engine
steamboat1787
steamship1819
smoker1825
steamer1825
steam-vessel1825
smoke-boat1867
S.S.1868
puffer1901
1787 M. Cutler Explan. of Map 28 Oct. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) II. 399 In all probability, steamboats will be found to do infinite service in all our extensive river navigation.
1814 W. Scott Diary 8 Sept. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1837) III. viii. 276 Embarked in the steam-boat for Glasgow.
1818 T. Hulme Jrnl. 23 June in W. Cobbett Year's Resid. U.S.A. (1819) iii. 330 We are now frequently met and passed by large, fine steam-boats, plying up and down the river.
1821 Deb. Congr. U.S. 28 Dec. (1855) I. 44 The jurisdiction had only embraced steamboat navigation.
1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness xviii. 111 The principal anglers for this fish are steamboat hands and raftmen.
1866 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows (1871) 162 A Mississippi steamboat captain.
1906 Tribune 5 Dec. 6/3 The Thames steamboat service.
2. figurative.
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1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IX lxxiv. 42 I needs must rhyme with dove, That good old steam-boat which keeps verses moving 'Gainst Reason.
1854 H. B. Stowe Sunny Memories Foreign Lands I. xvi. 296 If he [Abp. Whately] had been born in our latitude..the natives would have..said he was a real steamboat on an argument.
1859 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) 449 Steam~boat, a term used at the West to denote a dashing, go-a-head character.
Compounds
steamboat Gothic adj. U.S. used to designate an ornamented style of architecture typical of houses built by retired steamboat captains in the mid-nineteenth century.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > style of architecture > [adjective] > Gothic revival
Pugin1842
Puginesque1848
neo-Gothic1878
Victorian Gothic1910
steamboat Gothic1962
1962 W. Faulkner Reivers viii. 166 The big rambling multigalleried multistoried steamboat-gothic hotel where the overalled aficionados..gathered..each February.
1970 K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly (1971) iv. 43 The beautiful old mansions with their bay windows, ornate Steamboat Gothic cornices and mouldings.
steamboatman n. U.S. a person who works on a steamboat, esp. a steamboat owner or captain.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > sailor on steamboat or powerboat
steamboatman1875
powerboater1912
1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Jan. 69/1 When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades... That was, to be a steamboatman.
1910 D. W. Bone Brassbounder 251 Sailormen walk fore and aft; steamboat men, athwart.
1929 G. L. Eskew Pageant of Packets ii. 101 All the steamboatmen when in New Orleans did their banking at the Banque des Citoyens.
Derivatives
ˈsteamboating n. (a) travelling by steamboat; the business of working on or operating a steamboat; (b) figurative see quots.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > [noun] > by steamer
steamboating1826
steaming1836
steamering1895
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [noun] > carelessness or lack of thoroughness or exactness > action of
slubbering1582
slobbering1649
scambling1659
skirting1687
steamboating1826
scamping1862
slur1882
society > communication > book > manufacture or production of books > book-binding > [noun] > other processes
headbanding1707
lacing1818
steamboating1826
casework1835
stringing1914
tipping1931
backing-
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [noun] > haste > careless
cursoriness1727
slur1882
steamboating1891
1826 T. R. Malthus Diary 7 July (1966) 263 Dr Brown said that the introduction of Steam boating had quite altered the habits of the people of Glasgow.
1828 Mrs. B. Hall Let. 7 June in Aristocratic Journey (1931) xxii. 288 Two nights more and we shall have done with it and have no more steamboating in this country.
1834 Countess Granville Let. 9 Sept. (1894) II. 162 Having enjoyed our steamboating on the Rhone so much.
1856 C. J. Lever Martins of Cro' Martin lxv. 601 That rattling, noisy steam-boating up the Rhine.
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Steamboating (Bookbinding), cutting simultaneously a pile of books which are as yet uncovered, that is, are out of boards.
1883 Athenæum 2 June 694/3 They treat of a time when steamboating was a great industry [on the Mississippi].
1891 Cent. Dict. Steamboating 2. Undue hurrying and slighting of work. (Colloq.)
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1787