harbor patrol
1
4.7
- noun
- /ˈhɑrbər pəˈtroʊl/
- US
:
patrulla portuaria
- A member of the harbor patrol warned the fishermen to secure their boats before the tide came in.
- harbor patrol boat
Examples
-
We got the harbor patrol involved?
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He wondered if he should retreat and come back with the harbor patrol boat.
Fiction book (2001) -
The harbor patrol monitors the busy shipping lanes to ensure that all vessels are operating safely.
-
During the storm, the harbor patrol was active in rescuing stranded boats near the shore.
Synonyms
230
2.7
A group of people like police who move through an area to keep it safe
People from the navy who keep order in ports and towns when sailors are on leave
Antonyms
How Extensive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'harbor' (a sheltered port area) + 'patrol' (a unit that watches over an area) yields a unit that monitors a harbor. This noun–noun combination follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be readily understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The noun harbor patrol comes from the simple picture of police or guards moving around a harbor to watch boats and docks, because a patrol is a regular round to check for problems. That's why harbor patrol means 'a group that keeps order and safety in a harbor'.