Meanings
plural boaters
- nauticalSomeone who travels by boat.
- nauticalSynonym of boatman, particularly its captain.
In the summer of 1992, eight beaches were closed and swimmers were warned away because of colliform bacteria, caused by boaters emptying toilets directly into the lake or onto nearby shores. Park officials may soon supply the lake with floating waste disposal systems.
1994, Bruce Berger, There Was a River, Tucson, A.Z.; London: The University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 61Synonyms: boatman, particularly its captain
- businessA straw hat, very stiff, with a flat brim and crown.
Technically, Melania Trump was in attendance, but she chose to make herself almost invisible. Her dark boater hat was worn so low that it threw her entire face into shadow, and made eye contact with cameras or guests impossible.
2025 January 20, Jess Cartner-Morley, “Brimful of menace? Melania strikes sombre note at Trump inauguration”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of boatman, particularly its captain.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna stiff hat made of straw with a flat crown
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishbotere
- Englishboater
From Middle English botere; equivalent to boat + -er. The use of the term for a straw hat stems from the fact that straw hats were the preferred head covering during sunny boat trips on canals and rivers.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 硬草帽, 船工帽
- 硬草帽 (yìngcǎomào)straw hat
- 船工帽straw hat
Finnish veneilijä
- veneilijäsomeone who travels by boat
French canotier
- canotierstraw hat
German Bootsfahrer, Kreissäge
- Bootsfahrersomeone who travels by boat
- Kreissägestraw hat
- steifer Strohhutstraw hat
Irish bádóir, hata bádóra
- bádóirsomeone who travels by boat
- hata bádórastraw hat
Italian paglietta
- pagliettastraw hat
Japanese カンカン帽
- カンカン帽 (kankan-bō)straw hat
Portuguese chapéu-palheta, palheta
- chapéu-palhetastraw hat
- palhetastraw hat
- palhinhastraw hat
Russian канотье́
- канотье́ (kanotʹjé)straw hat
Spanish canotier
- canotierstraw hat
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with boater
Anagrams
Cite this entry
boater. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boater
“boater.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boater. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boater,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boater.
Source: boater on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.