regatta

What it means

1. countableA series of boat races, or sometimes a single race.

   […] many people living along the harbour front had boathouses and boats of their own, for regattas and water sports were one of Victoria's chief attractions.

   1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC

   1 more example

   The novice eights race demonstrated one of the reasons UVa manages to be so good year after year; the UVa novs finished first and second in the event, while Clemson's novice crew, the surprise of the regatta, took third.

   1999, Oli Rosenbladt, “Virginia Women Sweep Rivanna Romp”, in Rowing News, volume 6, number 21, page 8

2. countableuncountableA striped cotton fabric.
3. collectivecountableuncountableA group of swans on the water.

   As he quietly planned out the unfolding day ahead of him, his attention was drawn to a regatta of swans drawing close to the bank of the river.

   2026, Mick Vincent, It's Our Secret, Troubadour Publishing Limited

   2 more examples

   The mind returns to water meadows on the Risle and the Test, and the Traun with its petulant regatta of swans, where we fished from the timber walkways and stayed in the little fishing hotel at Marien- brucke.

   1972, Ernest George Schwiebert, Remembrances of Rivers Past, Macmillan, page 15

   A succession of mild winters which encouraged the recovery of kingfishers enabled some waters to restock again with a regatta of swans where there is willow-moss and other vegetation to feed them.

   1975, The Salmon and Trout Magazine, volumes 203-207, Salmon and Trout Association, page 8

In a sentence

[…] many people living along the harbour front had boathouses and boats of their own, for regattas and water sports were one of Victoria's chief attractions.

1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC

Where it comes from

1. Latinauriga
2. Vulgar Latin*aurigata
3. Italianregata“boat race, regatta”
4. Englishregatta

From Italian (Venetian dialect) regatta (“contention for mastery”), from regattare (“compete, haggle, sell at retail”), possibly from ricattare; or from Italian regata (“boat race, regatta”), via Vulgar Latin *aurigata from Latin auriga.