douche boat

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

douche boat (plural douche boats)

1. (US, Vietnam War, slang) A river craft outfitted with a high-pressure water cannon capable of destroying enemy encampments.
   • 2005, William B. Fulton, Mobile Riverine Force: America's Mobile Riverine Force Vietnam, Turner Publishing, →ISBN, page 42:

     Douche boats destroyed two bunkers and accumulated 30 minutes of water time.

   • 2006, Andrew Wiest, Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited‎^[1], Osprey Publishing, →ISBN:

     Other river craft, “dubbed “douche boats,” were equipped with high-pressure water jets that could disintegrate enemy positions, including cement bunkers. The “douche boat” also performed an originally unanticipated support function: its water jets easily gouged out wet docks to expedite on-the-scene repairs for damaged river craft.

   • 2006, Gordon Rottman, Vietnam Riverine Craft 1962-75, Osprey Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:

     "Douche boats" had two water cannons that operated at 3,000lb per square inch, and were fed by centrifugal pumps powered by a General Motors 12V-71 diesel engine, pumping 1,000 gallons (3,785 liters) per minute through each cannon - over four tons of water a minute.

2. (vulgar, slang, humorous) A rude, obnoxious, or contemptible person.
   • 1997 December 22, crsds, “Re: the yellow brick road...leona and cowardice”, in alt.dreams.castaneda‎^[2] (Usenet):

     No one gives a flying fuck what you douche boats write.

   • 2010, Casey Rand & Tim Gordon, People Who Deserve It: Socially Responsible Reasons to Punch Someone in the Face, Perigee Books (2010), →ISBN, unnumbered page (acknowledgements):

     Thank you Hope Deli, little Thai lady at Siam Orchid, the Bluetooth Company, random subway goers and douche-boats, […]

   • 2013, MaryJanice Davidson, Undead and Underwater‎^[3], Berkley, →ISBN:

     She left England a while back to get away from the douche boat she married.

Synonyms

• (rude or obnoxious person): see also Thesaurus:jerk.