showboat

English

WOTD – 27 December 2015

Etymology

From show +‎ boat.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃoʊˌboʊt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

showboat (plural showboats)

1. (US) A river steamboat having a resident theatre.
   • 1951 July 20, Bosley Crowther, “THE SCREEN: A MUSICAL FAVORITE AT RADIO CITY; 'Show Boat,' Metro Remake of Hit, With Kathryn Grayson in Lead, at Music Hall 'Never Trust a Gambler,' New Feature of Palace Theatre, Has Dane Clark in Cast”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     And Agnes Moorehead henpecks with stern persistence as Parthy, the captain's loving wife. The sets, which include a full-sized showboat with belching double stacks and sternwheel, are in the best Metro tradition, which means as sumptuous as sumptuous can be.

   • 1990 November 2, Peter B. Flint, “Jack Sterling, 75, Host on Radio For 18 Years in New York, Dies”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Mr. Sterling was born in Baltimore on June 24, 1915, to Jack Sexton and Edna Cable, veteran performers in vaudeville, showboats and stock companies.

   • 2000 May 21, Dan Neil, “Victory to the Low and Slow”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     Lowriding emerged in the 1950's in California, as Mexican-American youths -- in what may have been a reaction to the hot-rod culture dominated by whites -- transformed their cars into fantastical, ground-hugging showboats.

2. (informal, chiefly US, by extension) A showoff.
   • 2004, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, spoken by Steve Zissou (Bill Murray):

     Well, I was a little upset at first. I mean, obviously people are going to think I'm a showboat, and a little bit of a prick.

   • 2017 June 8, Maeve Reston, “Trump meets the ultimate adversary in James Comey”, in CNN‎^[4]:

     After the President fired his FBI director in early May, he dismissed Comey as “a showboat,” “a grandstander” and a “nut job.”

Translations

river steamer with theatre

• Dutch: evenementenboot
• Finnish: teatterilaiva
• French: bateau-théâtre m
• German: Theaterschiff n
• Hebrew: סְפִינַת שַׁעֲשׁוּעִים (he) f (sfinat sha'ashu'im)
• Hungarian: színházhajó
• Italian: battello-teatro m
• Swedish: teaterbåt c

showoff — see showoff

Verb

showboat (third-person singular simple present showboats, present participle showboating, simple past and past participle showboated)

1. (informal, chiefly US, ambitransitive) To show off.
   • 1995 June 15, Scott Ostler, “SCOTT OSTLER -- Hakeem Sets Old Standard”, in San Francisco Chronicle‎^[5]:

     Out: Trash talk, dirty play, crybabying, showboating and players who can't be bothered to show up for games or keep their shoes on.

   • 2019 July 4, Christopher Clarey, “Rafael Nadal Doesn’t Fall for Nick Kyrgios’s Bag of Tricks”, in The New York Times‎^[6]:

     Their duel had something often lacking in this memorable era of men’s tennis: an edge, as Kyrgios showboated and intentionally smacked balls at Nadal’s body, ignoring the glares that Nadal sometimes fired back.

Synonyms

• grandstand (verb)

Anagrams

• boat show