Plural of garvey, a small flat-bottomed open boat used for fishing, trading, or transport, especially along the US Atlantic coast.
Origin uncertain, possibly from a personal name or a Scandinavian source. First recorded in 18th-century American colonial records referring to coastal vessels.
Garveys were so practical and common in colonial America that they became a generic term for small working boats—archaeology shows they shaped the entire coastal fishing economy before larger commercial ships dominated.
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