billyboy

B3I1L1L1Y4B3O1Y4

noun

A flat-bottomed river barge or coasting vessel, used for trade along the east coast.of England in the 19th century.

Scrabble 18
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Meanings

nounbillyboy (plural billyboys)

plural billyboys

  1. UKhistoricalA flat-bottomed river barge or coasting vessel, used for trade along the east coast.of England in the 19th century.

    Most of these billyboys were small craft, seldom carrying more than 100 tons; but there were larger craft schooner rigged.

    1951, Basil Greenhill, The Merchant Schooners, volume 2, page 94

Origin

Perhaps connected with bilander.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

billyboy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/billyboy

MLA

“billyboy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/billyboy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “billyboy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/billyboy.

Source: billyboy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.