Boat Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘top’ and now look at ‘boat’.

We were ‘all in the same boat’ for the first time in the 1580s.

Although nobody ‘rocked the boat’ until 1914.

A jolly-boat is a small boat hoisted at the stern of a vessel, first recorded in 1727.

Boats may have been around since prehistory, but nobody mentioned a boathouse until 1722.

Norsemen may have been associated with longboats, but the term was also used for the longest and strongest boat carried on a sailing ship from 1510.

Lifeboats are first mentioned in 1785, although there is no clear connection with savings lives at sea until 1801.

Motorboats have been recorded since 1875.

U-boats are first seen in 1914, this the abbreviation of the German Unterseeboot or ‘undersea boat’.

Dreamboat is first used to describe one who someone saw as desirable in 1947, but the term is used in the title When My Dream Boat Comes Home a song from 1936, and is also seen in 1929 as the title of a book in Dream Boat.

Boatswain, a minor officer on board a vessel, is seen from the middle of the 15th century.

Houseboats are first mentioned in 1790.

Rowboats are seen from the 1530s.

The term ‘sailboat’ is seen from 1769.

Tugboats are recorded from 1830.

Gunboats are recorded from 1793.

Showboat, as in a river steamer on which theatrical performances are held, is seen from 1838 – the modern use is more likely to refer to someone showing off and has been so since 1951.