packet-boats

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
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
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