English

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Etymology

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From boat +‎ load. Notionally, because the commodity in question might have constituted the entire load of a cargo ship or boat.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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boatload (plural boatloads)

  1. Cargo or passengers that fill a boat.
    a boatload of ferry passengers
  2. (slang) A large quantity.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lot
    He showed up an hour later with a whole boatload of hamburgers, chips, cookies, and assorted other munchies, not to mention sodas and beer, and we all fell in and stuffed ourselves silly.
    • 2006 December 10, Rob Pegoraro, “Waiting for the Winner of a High-Definition High Noon”, in The Washington Post:
      What's a fair price to pay for video perfection, or even something that looks a lot like it? In the case of high-definition movie discs, the answer may not just be "a boatload of money," but having to keep two incompatible players under the TV set.
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