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disease boat

disease boat noun: in early societies, a boat, canoe, etc., in which community members suffering from a disease were exiled in the belief that the evil spirits of the disease would be carried away.

Noun

disease boat (plural disease boats)

  1. (historical) In early societies, a boat, canoe, etc., in which community members suffering from a disease were exiled in the belief that the evil spirits of the disease would be carried away.
    • The loading of diseases into disease-boats, of sins onto scape-goats, the propitiation of the forces of nature by victims, human or animal, sacrifices, ceremonies of re-birth, eucharistic feasts, sexual communions, orgiastic celebrations of the common life, and a host of other things — all said...1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., page 165

Forms of disease boat

pluraldisease boats

Words that rhyme with disease boat

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about disease boat

What does disease boat mean?
Disease boat means in early societies, a boat, canoe, etc., in which community members suffering from a disease were exiled in the belief that the evil spirits of the disease would be carried away.
What part of speech is disease boat?
Disease boat is a noun.
What is the plural of disease boat?
The plural of disease boat is disease boats.

Words near disease boat in the dictionary

  1. disdrometric
  2. disdrometry
  3. disdyakis triacontahedron
  4. Dise
  5. disease
  6. disease boat
  7. disease boats
  8. disease enhancement
  9. disease enhancements
  10. disease mongering
  11. disease of despair

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: disease boat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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