Link Centre Dictionary

yacht

UK/jɒt/ US/jɑt/ fairly common
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

an expensive vessel propelled by sail or power and used for cruising or racing

Synonyms

verb

1.

travel in a yacht

Origin

Circa 1557; variant of yaught, earlier yeaghe (“light, fast-sailing ship”), from Dutch jacht (“yacht; hunt”), in older spelling jaght(e), short for jaghtschip (“light sailing vessel, fast pirate ship”, literally “pursuit ship”), compound of jacht and schip (“ship”). In the 16th century the Dutch built light, fast ships to chase the ships of pirates and smugglers from the coast. The ship was introduced to England in 1660 when the Dutch East India Company presented one to King Charles II, who used it as a pleasure boat, after which it was copied by British shipbuilders as a pleasure craft for wealthy gentlemen.

Phrases

  • ice yacht
  • land yacht
  • maxi yacht
  • motor yacht
  • sailing yacht
  • sand yacht
  • steam yacht
  • yacht club

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.