n.
A small rowboat, especially one used to ferry supplies from ship to shore. Also called cockleboat.
[Middle English cokboot : cok, cockboat (from Anglo-Norman coque , probably ultimately from Latin caudica , from caudex, caudic-, tree trunk) + boot, boat; see boat.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
