Canoe Definition & Meaning

American

British

More Idioms

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms canoe American [kuh-noo] / kəˈnu /

noun

1. any of various slender, open boats, tapering to a point at both ends, propelled by paddles or sometimes sails and traditionally formed of light framework covered with bark, skins, or canvas, or formed from a dug-out or burned-out log or logs, and now usually made of aluminum, fiberglass, etc.

2. any of various small, primitive light boats.

verb (used without object)

canoed, canoeing

1. to paddle a canoe.

2. to go in a canoe.

verb (used with object)

canoed, canoeing

1. to transport or carry by canoe.

idioms

1. paddle one's own canoe,

   1. to handle one's own affairs; manage independently.

   2. to mind one's own business.

canoe British / kəˈnuː /

noun

1. a light narrow open boat, propelled by one or more paddles

2. another word for waka

3. of the same tribe

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

1. to go in a canoe or transport by canoe

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 canoe More Idioms

1. see paddle one's own canoe.

Other Word Forms

• canoeing noun
• canoeist noun

Etymology

Origin of canoe

1545–55; < French < Spanish canoa < Arawak; replacing canoa < Spanish

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Strickland moved out of Manhattan and rented a cabin in Woodstock, across a pond from Pierson, who would canoe over to see him every morning.

From BBC

In the valley to the west was the Redwater: too shallow for canoes, but good fishing in spring, when the salmon come up from the Sea.

From Literature

Particularly marvelous are the voyages of the Polynesians who crossed the immense Pacific a thousand years ago in double-hulled canoes.

From The Wall Street Journal

Both times, I had been fishing in a canoe.

From Literature

This is the best time to hunt in the kayak, the little canoe made of deerskin.

From Literature

Related Words

• kayak
• outrigger

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.