billyboy

English

Etymology

Perhaps connected with bilander.

Noun

billyboy (plural billyboys)

1. (UK, historical) A flat-bottomed river barge or coasting vessel, used for trade along the east coast.of England in the 19th century.
   • 1951, Basil Greenhill, The Merchant Schooners, volume 2, page 94:

     Most of these billyboys were small craft, seldom carrying more than 100 tons; but there were larger craft schooner rigged.

References

• “billyboy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.