Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Nautical A small two-masted sailing vessel, used especially on canals in the Low Countries.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small merchant vessel with two masts, and the mainsail bent to the whole length of a yard, hanging fore and aft, and inclined to the horizon at an angle of about 45 degrees, the foremost lower corner, called the tack, being secured to a ring-bolt in the deck, and the after most, or sheet, to the taffrail.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A small two-masted merchant vessel, fitted only for coasting, or for use in canals, as in Holland.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A small two-
masted merchant vessel , fitted only forcoasting , or for use incanals , as inHolland .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The bilander was a good sizable object, and not to hit her anywhere would be too bad.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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The bilander was a good sizable object, and not to hit her anywhere would be too bad.
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[Footnote 3: A bilander was a small two-master, with the mainsail of lateen form.] [Footnote 4: The _Lisbon Merchant_, Captain Porteen.
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents 1898
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John Gristhorp, of the “Ship Inn,” at Filey, had turned out his visitors, barred his door, and was counting his money by the fireside, with his wife grumbling at him for such late hours as half past ten of the clock in the bar, that night when the poor bilander ended her long career as aforesaid.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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“Well, mynheer, you have only to pay the difference, and the ketch will do; the bilander sails almost as fast.”
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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The poor old bilander had made herself such a hole in the shingle that she rolled no more, but only lifted at the stern and groaned, as the quiet waves swept under her.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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For this gallant lieutenant, slanting toward the bows of the flying bilander, which he had no hope of fore-reaching, trained his long swivel-gun upon her, and let go — or rather tried to let go — at her.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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For a while the bilander seemed to mean to try it, for she carried on toward the central cruiser as if she had not seen one of them.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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“I am sorry to be troublesome, Mynheer Van Dunck, but I can not say good-by without having your receipt in full for the old bilander.”
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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There were three craft, all of different rig — a schooner, a ketch, and the said bilander.
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
reesetee commented on the word bilander
A small European merchant ship with two masts, used in the Netherlands for coast and canal traffic. Sometimes seen in the North Sea but more frequently in the Mediterranean Sea.
November 3, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word bilander
"'So that is a schooner,' said Martin... 'How can you tell?'
"'It has two masts...'
"'But brigs, ketches, bilanders, galliots, and doggers also have two masts. What is the difference?'
"'Curlews and whimbrels have a general similarity, and both have two wings; yet to any but the most superficial observer there is an evident difference.'
"'There is the difference of size, eye-stripe, and voice.'
"'...The accustomed eye... at once distinguishes the equivalent of eye-stripes, wing-bars, and semi-palmated feet.'
"'Perhaps I shall come to it in time... But there are also luggers, bean-cods and herring-busses.'"
—Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 70
February 27, 2008