Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word catamaran. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word catamaran, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say catamaran in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word catamaran you have here. The definition of the word catamaran will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofcatamaran, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Swift over the seas the vessel drives; Madras appears in sight. The first object catching the eye, upon the anchor being cast, was an Indian upon his catamaran, who, making a sudden motion, sprung to the side of the ship, grappled there for a moment, and the next was on the deck.
1889, William Makepeace Thackeray, Hobson's Choice:
She meddles with my prescriptions for your wife; she doctors the infant in private: you'll never have a quiet house or a quiet wife as long as that old Catamaran is here.
(obsolete) A raft of three pieces of wood lashed together, the middle piece being longer than the others, and serving as a keel on which the rower squats while paddling.
1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 90:
Three or four strange-looking things now came close to our boat, which I understood were called ‘catamarans’, consisting of nothing more than two or three large trees, the trunk part only strongly lashed together, upon which sat two men nearly in a state of nature .
