A boat with a boom, especially one used in fishing or sailing where a boom extends from the mast to control the sail.
Compound word from 'boom' (a pole extending from a mast) + 'boat'. Both elements are ancient: 'boom' comes from Dutch and 'boat' from Old English.
Boom-boat shows how sailing technology shaped our vocabulary—the 'boom' was a Dutch innovation that revolutionized sail control, and English sailors adopted both the technology and the word!
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