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tugboat

noun
/ˈtʌɡbəʊt/UK/ˈtʌɡboʊt/US

Etymology

From tug + boat. Sense 2 from monthly tugboat, a reference to the saying "our ship has come in," here referring to a small, "reliable" "tugboat" instead of a large windfall.

  1. derived from *bʰeyd-✻ — “to break, split”
  2. inherited from *baitaz✻
  3. inherited from *bait✻
  4. inherited from bāt — “boat”
  5. inherited from bot
  6. compounded as tugboat — “tug + boat”

Definitions

  1. A small, powerful boat used to push or pull barges or to help maneuver larger vessels.

  2. A Social Security Disability Insurance payment

    A Social Security Disability Insurance payment; monthly tugboat

The neighborhood

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No curated loop yet for tugboat. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA