bilander

English

Alternative forms

billander, bylander

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch bijlander, equivalent to by- +‎ lander. See also belandre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪləndɚ/

Noun

bilander (plural bilanders)

1. (nautical, historical) A small two-masted merchant vessel, fitted only for coasting, or for use in canals, as in Holland.
   • 1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     Why choose we, then, like bilanders to creep / Along the coast, and land in view to keep?

   • March 1744, Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany:

     it being fine weather , all the bilanders and fiſhing boats , that had returned after the first imbarkation, into the harbour, went out again with another body of troops

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “bilander”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)