flyboat

F4L1Y4B3O1A1T1

noun

A large flat-bottomed coasting vessel, formerly found in Holland, Spain and Portugal.

“August 14, 1595, Thomas Treffry, letter to Sir Robert Cecil a ship of Bristol was chased into this harbour by two Spanish fly-boats, and they report […] that there are five men of war, Spanish, in the road of Conquet”

OriginDutch vlieboot →
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Meanings

nounflyboat (plural flyboats)

plural flyboats · alternative fly-boat · alternative flieboat

  1. historicalA large flat-bottomed coasting vessel, formerly found in Holland, Spain and Portugal.

    August 14, 1595, Thomas Treffry, letter to Sir Robert Cecil a ship of Bristol was chased into this harbour by two Spanish fly-boats, and they report […] that there are five men of war, Spanish, in the road of Conquet

  2. IrelandUKhistoricalA kind of (often horse-drawn) passenger boat formerly used on canals. Faster than other types of canal boats at the time, the horses would run along the towpath

Origin

  1. Dutchvlieboot
  2. Englishflyboat

Borrowed from Dutch vlieboot, but re-analysed as fly + boat.

More words from Dutch

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

flyboat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flyboat

MLA

“flyboat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flyboat. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flyboat,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flyboat.

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