Definition of "gallivat" [gal•li•vat]

• A small armed vessel, with sails and oars, used on the Malabar coast. (noun)

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• "Every other man was straining at his oar in the gallivat."
• "The willing rowers on their benches could not know how slowly the vessel was moving, but it was painfully clear to Desmond at the helm; relative to the lights on shore the gallivat seemed scarcely to move at all."
• "Miserable as he was, he would not have been a boy if he had not been interested in his novel surroundings; and no intelligent boy could have failed to take an interest in the construction of a gallivat."