Early American Crime

Boat with Alcatraz in the background, c. 1902 (Library of Congress - Prints and Photographs Online Catalog)

boat

– 1. transport; 2. transport a prisoner; 3. to go in with, as in “to boat with another”: “to be his partner in the same boat—in the same scrape”; 4. to go to sea.

Sources

• Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889.
• Matsell, George W. Vocabulum: Or, the Rogue’s Lexicon.. New York: George W. Matsell, 1859.
• Partridge, Eric. A Dictionary of the Underworld. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961.

Note: See “Cant: The Language of the Underworld” to learn more about the background of the American Malefactor’s Dictionary.