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Definition of yacht

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of yacht  (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

Examples of yacht in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'yacht.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

obsolete Dutch jaght , from Middle Low German jacht , short for jachtschip , literally, hunting ship

1557, in the meaning defined above

1836, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing yacht

Articles related to yacht.

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Cite this Entry

“Yacht.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yacht. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of yacht.

Kids Definition of yacht  (Entry 2 of 2)

from obsolete Dutch jaght (now jacht ), short for jachtschip, literally, "hunting ship"

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Nglish: Translation of yacht for Spanish Speakers

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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about yacht

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Definition of yacht noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

yacht definition english pronunciation

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.

Pronunciation

  • ( UK ) enPR : yŏt , IPA ( key ) : /jɒt/
  • ( US ) enPR : yät , IPA ( key ) : /jɑːt/ , /jɑt/
Audio ( ): ( )
  • Rhymes: -ɒt

yacht ( plural yachts )

  • 1897 December (indicated as 1898 ), Winston Churchill , chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode , New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company ; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. , →OCLC : The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
  • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers , chapter VI, in The Younger Set , New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company , →OCLC : “I don’t mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,   [ … ] , the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts ,   [ … ] , the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"

Derived terms

  • motor yacht , motoryacht , MY
  • sailing yacht , steam yacht , SY
  • yacht person

Translations

        (yaḵt) (yaḵt)   (zbosanav)   (jáxta)     (jáhta)   (rwakhle)   (tsiyu)   (yóutǐng)           ,     ,     ,         (iaxṭa)     ,         (giot),     (thalamigós)     (yakhta) (yāxṭ)           ,       (yotto) (äxta) (tuuk kɑmsaan) (yoteu) (yahta)   (hư̄a bai)         (jahta) (darvuult ongoc)         (yât)                 (jáxta)   ,                   ,   (rʉʉa-bai), ,       (jáxta)     ,
    (jahta)         ,         (thalamigós)     (yakhta)     (fune),   (bōto)   ,  

yacht ( third-person singular simple present yachts , present participle yachting , simple past and past participle yachted )

  • ( intransitive ) To sail , voyage , or race in a yacht .
(darvuult ongocoor javax)
  • Cathy , tachy , tachy- , yatch

Borrowed from English yacht , from Dutch jacht .

  • IPA ( key ) : /jɔt/ , /jot/ , ( Canada ) /jat/
Audio: ( )

yacht   m ( plural yachts )

Further reading

  • “ yacht ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [ Digitized Treasury of the French Language ] , 2012 .

Unadapted borrowing from English yacht .

  • IPA ( key ) : /ˈjɔt/ [ 1 ]
  • Rhymes: -ɔt

yacht   m ( invariable )

  • the letter Y in the Italian spelling alphabet
  • ^ yacht in Luciano Canepari , Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
  • yacht in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line , Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Borrowed from English yacht .

yacht   ? ( plural yachts )

  • ( Jersey ) yacht

Norwegian Bokmål

From Dutch jacht , via English yacht .

yacht   m ( definite singular yachten , indefinite plural yachter , definite plural yachtene )

  • “yacht” in The Bokmål Dictionary .

Norwegian Nynorsk

yacht   m ( definite singular yachten , indefinite plural yachtar , definite plural yachtane )

  • “yacht” in The Nynorsk Dictionary .

Alternative forms

yacht   c

Declension of  
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative
Genitive
  • yacht in Svenska Akademiens ordlista ( SAOL )
  • yacht in Svensk ordbok ( SO )
  • yacht in Svenska Akademiens ordbok ( SAOB )
  • yacht in Svenskt nautiskt lexikon (1920)

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  • a vessel used for private cruising, racing, or other noncommercial purposes.

verb (used without object)

  • to sail, voyage, or race in a yacht.
  • a vessel propelled by sail or power, used esp for pleasure cruising, racing, etc
  • short for sand yacht ice yacht
  • intr to sail or cruise in a yacht

Other Words From

  • yachty adjective
  • super·yacht noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of yacht 1

Compare Meanings

How does yacht compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

  • yacht vs. sailboat

Example Sentences

As City News explained it, the bribes were paid not only in cash but through rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees, boat repairs and more.

In Ashburn, Snyder is always lurking in spirit, even if he is on his 305-foot yacht somewhere in the Aegean.

Driving across country in a gigantic land yacht—with its crushed-velour seats and faux wood siding—was more practical than a two-door hot rod.

Host Jason Moore chats with experts who share tips harvested from their real-life experiences, such as a couple who paid off their $70,000 debt to travel full time and a woman who left her corporate job to work on a yacht.

Until Thursday, when federal agents escorted him off a 150-foot yacht moored in Long Island Sound, the word often used to describe Steve Bannon was “irrelevant.”

Instead the money allegedly was spent on luxury cars and a yacht club membership, among other things.

Loeb owns a $100 million penthouse on Central Park West and a $50 million yacht.

Solaire has set up charging capabilities at a project it built at a yacht club in Massachusetts, for example.

On my way back into town, I walked by the fortress of tents surrounding the harbor, readying for the yacht show.

Newly-minted Londoner, Lindsay Lohan, is currently chilling out on a yacht in Italy.

I heard her say to one of the servants once that my father had been lost on a yacht, and that he was oh, ever such a handsome man.

He owned a 54-ton yacht named the Opal, and attributed the wonderful health he enjoyed to his numerous sea voyages.

Another yacht had started from the old boathouse at about the time our friends and their new-fangled craft got under way.

Caermarthen ordered out his wonderful yacht, and hastened to complain to the King, who was then at Loo.

The yacht had long turned the head of the island and was beating down alongshore in the eastern bay.

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Imperative
yacht
yacht
Present
I yacht
you yacht
he/she/it yachts
we yacht
you yacht
they yacht
Preterite
I yachted
you yachted
he/she/it yachted
we yachted
you yachted
they yachted
Present Continuous
I am yachting
you are yachting
he/she/it is yachting
we are yachting
you are yachting
they are yachting
Present Perfect
I have yachted
you have yachted
he/she/it has yachted
we have yachted
you have yachted
they have yachted
Past Continuous
I was yachting
you were yachting
he/she/it was yachting
we were yachting
you were yachting
they were yachting
Past Perfect
I had yachted
you had yachted
he/she/it had yachted
we had yachted
you had yachted
they had yachted
Future
I will yacht
you will yacht
he/she/it will yacht
we will yacht
you will yacht
they will yacht
Future Perfect
I will have yachted
you will have yachted
he/she/it will have yachted
we will have yachted
you will have yachted
they will have yachted
Future Continuous
I will be yachting
you will be yachting
he/she/it will be yachting
we will be yachting
you will be yachting
they will be yachting
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been yachting
you have been yachting
he/she/it has been yachting
we have been yachting
you have been yachting
they have been yachting
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been yachting
you will have been yachting
he/she/it will have been yachting
we will have been yachting
you will have been yachting
they will have been yachting
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been yachting
you had been yachting
he/she/it had been yachting
we had been yachting
you had been yachting
they had been yachting
Conditional
I would yacht
you would yacht
he/she/it would yacht
we would yacht
you would yacht
they would yacht
Past Conditional
I would have yachted
you would have yachted
he/she/it would have yachted
we would have yachted
you would have yachted
they would have yachted
- an expensive vessel propelled by sail or power and used for cruising or racing , - a craft designed for water transportation
- travel in a yacht       , , - the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place - ride in a boat on water
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Definition of 'yacht'

IPA Pronunciation Guide

yacht in British English

Yacht in american english, examples of 'yacht' in a sentence yacht, trends of yacht.

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  • motor yacht
  • royal yacht
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What does the noun yacht mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun yacht . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the noun yacht ?

How is the noun yacht pronounced?

British english, u.s. english, where does the noun yacht come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun yacht is in the late 1500s.

OED's earliest evidence for yacht is from before 1584, in the writing of S. Borough.

yacht is a borrowing from Dutch.

Etymons: Dutch jaght(e .

Nearby entries

  • yabber, v. 1841–
  • yabbering, n. 1839–
  • yabble, n. 1827–
  • yabble, v. 1808–
  • yabbler, n. 1901–
  • yabby, n. 1887–
  • yabby, v. 1941–
  • yabbying, n. 1934–
  • yabu, n. 1753–
  • yacca, n. 1843–
  • yacht, n. a1584–
  • yacht, v. 1836–
  • yacht basin, n. 1929–
  • yacht broker, n. 1882–
  • yachtdom, n. 1901–
  • yachter, n. 1828–
  • yachtery, n. 1861–
  • yachtian, n. 1842–
  • yachtie, n. 1874–
  • yachting, n. 1836–
  • yachting, adj. 1847–

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Meaning & use

Pronunciation, compounds & derived words, entry history for yacht, n..

yacht, n. was first published in 1921; not yet revised.

yacht, n. was last modified in July 2023.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

  • corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
  • new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into yacht, n. in July 2023.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1921)

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Citation details

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Watch CBS News

Tornado likely sank luxury yacht off coast of Sicily, officials say, as search for survivors continues

Updated on: August 20, 2024 / 7:56 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Police divers resumed searching Tuesday for six people believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank in deep seas off Sicily, including a British tech magnate who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who had defended him at trial.

Civil protection officials said they believed the Bayesian, a 184-foot British-flagged yacht, had been struck by a tornado over the water. The ship had been moored about a half-mile offshore off Porticello near Palermo when a storm rolled and the vessel sank at about 5 a.m. local time on Monday . 

Grainy film from closed-circuit cameras from shore, broadcast on the website of the Giornale di Sicilia, showed the majestic, illuminated 246-foot mast of the Bayesian weathering the storm and then disappearing over the course of a minute.

Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. One body was recovered, identified by officials as the Antiguan-born on-board chef. The rest of the 10-person crew survived, including the captain whom prosecutors reportedly sought to interview.

Italy Boaters Missing

However, CBS News senior weather producer David Parkinson said Tuesday that it's still too early to determine whether the yacht was hit by a waterspout or a downburst. A waterspout is a meteorological term for a tornado over water, while a downburst consists of powerful winds that descend from a thunderstorm and can often be misinterpreted as a tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

As of now, Parkinson said, it's only safe to say that the yacht was impacted by a severe thunderstorm. Based on satellite imagery, there were strong to violent thunderstorms in the area where the yacht sank, Parkinson said.

That said, early Monday morning conditions were appropriate for either the development of a waterspout or a downburst, Parkinson explained. At around 4 a.m. local time Monday, the winds spiked, with wind gusts above 43 mph in Palermo. About 10 minutes later in the town of Aspra — which is 20 miles from Palermo and three to four miles west of where the boat sank — wind gusts of 51 mph were recorded, and the thunderstorms appeared to intensify as they moved east.

In cases of downbursts, when wind hits the water's surface, it increases the wind speed, Parkinson said. While at the time the boat sank, water temperatures were 84 degrees Fahrenheit, which would be warm enough to support the development of a waterspout, Parkinson said. 

"It's a great, great tragedy," said Britain's ambassador to Italy, Edward Llewellyn, who visited Porticello on Tuesday. Britain sent four investigators to the scene, given the disaster involved a British-flagged ship and British citizens were among the missing.

Fire rescue officials have said the six other passengers will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage. They include tycoon Mike Lynch , who was once hailed as Britain's king of technology and was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard's $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp.

Also unaccounted for are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch's lawyers, and Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International and the former head of the Autonomy audit committee who testified in Lynch's defense.

The wreckage of the luxury craft is some 164 feet underwater — far deeper than most recreational divers are certified for and a depth that requires special precautions. Recovery crews could only stay for 12-minute shifts, a measure that slowed their efforts to reach the cramped inside of the wreck.

Italy Boaters Missing

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which rescued the 15 survivors who managed to get into a lifeboat, said he was close enough to be able to see the Bayesian as the storm came in.

"A moment later, she was gone," he said. "They said they went flat on the water and were sunk in two minutes," Borner added, quoting the survivors.

The rotating search teams, each made up of two specialized cave divers, worked Tuesday to open up access points to get inside the wreck. They were using a remote-controlled underwater vehicle, or ROV, to help in the search.

The divers hadn't been able to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by furniture that had shifted during the violent storm. Rescue crews said they assume the missing six are in those cabins because the storm struck when most would be sleeping, but the teams haven't verified their presence there through portholes.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the rescue teams, said the search was proceeding much more slowly than another big shipwreck in Italy, the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship that flipped on its side off Tuscany's coast, because of the depth of the wreck and the limited space divers have to maneuver.

"That was much simpler. Here everything is more tight," he said.

The outing was intended at least in part as a celebration of Lynch's acquittal and a "looking forward to what was coming next," said Reid Weingarten, a Washington attorney and a member of Lynch's defense team who was not on the yacht.

"A lot of people went, a lot of people were planning to go and then of course this happened," Weingarten said.

Some of the people who stood by Lynch throughout the ordeal were on board, including Morvillo, the lawyer, who Weingarten worked with and said "was like a brother."

Morvillo's wife, Neda, is also missing, according to his law firm Clifford Chance.

Aki Hussain, CEO of international insurer Hiscox Group, where Bloomer, the witness, was chairman, said the company was "deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event."

"Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our Chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation," he added.

Among the survivors, the Emslie family was released from Palermo's pediatric hospital on Tuesday where little Sofia had been kept overnight after her rescue. Her mother, Charlotte Golunski, had reported that she momentarily lost hold of the 1-year-old in the water but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, doctors said.

Hewlett Packard Rotten Deal Trial

The father, identified by ANSA news agency as James Emslie, also survived.

"They don't talk much, primarily because they consider themselves survivors and they don't understand why they survived given what they went through," said Dr. Domenico Cipolla, head of the emergency room at Di Cristina Pediatric Hospital.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Cipolla said Golunski had reported that she and the baby were sleeping in the cabin and suddenly found themselves in the water, where they also found Emslie who had been in a different part of the ship. Cipolla said the parents had been in touch with other survivors, who are being housed at a nearby hotel and were waiting for other family members to arrive in Sicily.

The baby slept well overnight and all were released after final checks Tuesday morning, he said according to a videotaped interview posted on Palermo Today, adding that psychologists had been made available.

Among the other survivors was Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares. Hannah Lynch, reportedly the couple's 18-year-old daughter, is among the missing.

The yacht's registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd., according to online maritime database Equasis. Bacares is listed as Revtom's sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.

Italy Boaters Missing

Its name, Bayesian, may be a reference to "Bayesian Inference," one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning and the one that was used by Lynch's company.

The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew. According to online charter companies, it had been available for charter for about $215,000 a week and was notable for its massive aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world.

The coast guard said to date there was no trace of fuel leaks from the wreckage.

In an unrelated event, Lynch's co-defendant in the Autonomy trial who was also cleared, Stephen Chamberlain, was killed Sunday when he was hit by a car while running in Cambridgeshire, England, said Chamberlain's lawyer, Gary Lincenberg.

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    yacht: [noun] any of various recreational watercraft: such as. a sailboat used for racing. a large usually motor-driven craft used for pleasure cruising.

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    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 ...

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    a boat or small ship, usually with sails, often with an engine, built and used for racing or cruising. We spent our holidays on a friend's yacht; (also adjective) a yacht race. the pastime of sailing in a yacht. a person who sails a yacht. a keen yachtsman.

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    corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates; new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates. Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into yacht, n. in July 2023.

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    From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Related topics: Other sports yacht /jɒt $ jɑːt/ noun [ countable] a large boat with a sail, used for pleasure or sport, especially one that has a place where you can sleep → sailing boat, sailboat Examples from the Corpus yacht • We provide a comprehensive range of sizes to suit every yacht ...

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    The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew. According to online charter companies, it had been available for charter for about $215,000 a week ...

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    YACHT definition: a large boat with sails used for pleasure or in races: . Learn more.