steam-packet

noun

A packet boat powered by steam.

“In those days, a good way to get to New York City from Baltimore was by steam-packet.”

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Meanings

nounsteam-packet (plural steam-packets)

plural steam-packets

  1. A packet boat powered by steam.

    In those days, a good way to get to New York City from Baltimore was by steam-packet.

    2 more examples

    Every preparation was now made: one day more and they were at Dover, and the next they embarked on board the steam-packet.

    1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 255

    Portishead, lying west-north-west of Bristol, on the Severn, had a small port from medieval times on its pill, or inlet, and began to develop as a seaside resort early in the nineteenth century, when it was served by steam packets from Bristol.

    1955 June, C. L. Mowat, “The Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 371
Cite this entry
APA

steam-packet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam-packet

MLA

“steam-packet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam-packet. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “steam-packet,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam-packet.

Source: steam-packet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.