A small military vessel equipped with guns and designed for defending rivers, coastal areas, or shallow waters.
From 'gun' (a cannon) and 'boat,' a compound term that emerged in the 18th century as colonial powers used these vessels to assert dominance on waterways.
'Gunboat diplomacy' became a 19th-century term for threatening military force to win negotiations—it literally meant showing up with an armed boat to convince someone to sign a treaty, which is imperialism dressed in diplomatic language.
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