–noun

1.	a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.

2.	a small ship, generally for specialized use: a fishing boat.

3.	a small vessel carried for use by a large one, as a lifeboat: They lowered the boats for evacuation.

4.

a ship.

5.	a vessel of any size built for navigation on a river or other inland body of water.

6.	a serving dish resembling a boat: a gravy boat; a celery boat.

7.	Ecclesiastical. a container for holding incense before it is placed in the censer.

–verb (used without object)

8.	to go in a boat: We boated down the Thames.

–verb (used with object)

9.	to transport in a boat: They boated us across the bay.

10.	to remove (an oar) from the wate cce r and place athwartships. Compare ship (def. 8).

—Idioms

11.	in the same boat, in the same circumstances; faced with the same problems: The new recruits were all in the same boat.

12.	miss the boat, Informal. a. to fail to take advantage of an opportunity: He missed the boat when he applied too late to get into college. b. to miss the point of; fail to understand: I missed the boat on that explanation.

13.	rock the boat. rock 2 (def. 15).