A large amount or quantity of something; literally, as much as a boat can carry.
Compound of 'boat' (from Old English 'bat') and 'load' (from Old English 'hlad', meaning to put cargo on). The term became metaphorical in modern usage to mean a large but unspecified quantity.
A 'boatload' of people is funny because boats can hold wildly different amounts depending on the boat—making it a delightfully vague unit of measurement that somehow everyone understands.
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