packet-boat

Noun

packet-boat (plural packet-boats)

1. Government-commissioned mail ship.
   • She proved to be a barco de aviso, or packet-boat, that was going with letters form Panama to Lima.1810, Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin, The History of the Bucaniers of America, page 365
   • The chief consul complains that, during , a certain period, every packet-boat that passed from Dover to Calais, brought over a cargo of libels.1820, Great Britain. Parliament, The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the year 1803
2. River or canal boat that carries mail.
   • The declaration contains ten counts, and in substance, they all and each of them charge, that Bromley, the defendant, was the captain of the packet-boat Empire, which regularly performed trips, at stated periods, between two places, from on to the other of which places the United States mail was...1852, William Cranch, Henry Wheaton, Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States
   • Propelling the packet-boat up the stream was the most laborious and dangerous employment which can be imagined. The Indians were unceasing in their efforts to destory small parties of whites, as they were passing up or down the river Ohio. There were then but few places between Cincinnati and...2009, John McDonald, Biographical Sketches of General Nathaniel Massie, page 85
3. Passenger boat.
   • A canal packet-boat leaves here daily at 9 o'clock for Whitehall, and runs through in about 22 hours.1839, Robert J. Vandewater, The Tourist, Or Pocket Manual for Travellers on the Hudson, page 80
   • The packet-boat came in sight, white and slow as a deliberate swan, drew reflectively down the shining reach of water, and sidled to the landing.1994, Mary Johnston, Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, Hagar, page 8