Definition of "clinker-built" [clink•er-built]

• Built with overlapping planks or boards, as a ship. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Workers unearthed part of an old clinker-built vessel but were told by the foreman to cover it over again to keep construction on course."
• "They were framed from naturally curved oak and planked with very thin oak strakes, clinker-built above the waterline and carvel-built below to reduce drag and increase speed."
• "He was happiest at home, with his children, and later alone on his little old clinker-built boat, the Curlew, sailing the muddy waters of the Thames estuary."