flying boat
2
7.5
- noun
- /ˈflaɪɪŋ boʊt/
- Archaic
:
hidroavión
- The flying boat floated gracefully on the water before taking off into the sky.
- big flying boat
- two flying boats
Examples
-
A long-range flying boat and one of the largest aircraft of the time—it cemented regular scheduled flying on the long-haul routes from North America across the Pacific to Asia and then across the Atlantic to Europe.
Blog text (32) -
They chartered two flying boats by radiophone this morning and hauled out for Vancouver, every man jack of 'em.
Fiction book (1994) -
The last flying boat... leaves tomorrow because of the war.
-
...manufactured a 25 million dollar flying boat.
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A flying boat built by Howard Hughes.
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Did you receive $13 million to manufacture a prototype of a flying boat known as the Hercules?
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This is James McNamara, speaking to you from aboard the Howard Hughes 200-ton flying boat, the world's largest aircraft.
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I propose we send 2 flying boats to French Frigate Shoals on the 29th.
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Sikorsky turned his attention to fixed-wing aircraft, building bombers for Czarist Russia and flying boat passenger planes in the United States.
Academic text (2003) -
"Talon Eight-One, this is Dragon," Admiral Yin Po L'un radioed to the pilot of the flying boat.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
12
4.3
A plane that takes off from and lands on water
How Amphibious
- Specialized
- US
- Archaic
2
7.5
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning (a boat-like aircraft that operates on water) is directly derivable from combining 'flying' (airborne) and 'boat' (watercraft) — essentially a 'boat that flies' or an aircraft that lands on water. This noun‑noun composition is a regular, compositional pattern and is likely interpretable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Flying boat comes from early planes that had a boat-shaped body so they could land on and 'float on the water'. So the name joins flying and boat, and today it means a large plane that can land on and sit on water.