PINNACE

tender, ship's boat, pinnace, cutter

(noun) a boat for communication between ship and shore

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

pinnace (plural pinnaces)

(nautical) A light boat, traditionally propelled by sails, but sometimes a rowboat. Pinnaces are usually messenger boats, carrying messages among the larger ships of a fleet.

Source: Wiktionary


Pin"nace, n. Etym: [F. pinasse; cf. It. pinassa, pinazza, Sp. pinaza; all from L. pinus a pine tree, anything made of pine, e.g., a ship. Cf. Pine a tree.]

1. (Naut.) (a) A small vessel propelled by sails or oars, formerly employed as a tender, or for coast defence; -- called originally, spynace or spyne. (b) A man-of-war's boat. Whilst our pinnace anchors in the Downs. Shak.

2. A procuress; a pimp. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

31 March 2025

IMPROVISED

(adjective) done or made using whatever is available; “crossed the river on improvised bridges”; “the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear”; “the rock served as a makeshift hammer”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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