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Definition of "pinnace" [pin•nace]

  • A light boat propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a tender for merchant and war vessels. (noun)
  • Any of various kinds of ship's boats. (noun)

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.

Use "pinnace" in a sentence
  • "An 'I'd ha' done it, too, only the pinnace from the flagship was just comin 'alongside."
  • "Thither we went in a fine boat they call a pinnace, with six oars; his servants, and horses, and baggage going in the ferry-boat."
  • "The name pinnace was applied to vessels having a wide range in tonnage, etc., from a craft of hardly more than ten or fifteen tons to one of sixty or eighty."