Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small boat used for fishing, sailing, or coasting and having two or three masts, each with a lugsail, and two or three jibs set on the bowsprit.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as jugger.
  • noun A vessel carrying either two or three masts, often with a running bowsprit and always with lug-sails. On the bowsprit are set two or three jibs, and the lug-sails hang obliquely to the masts.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) An Indian falcon (Falco jugger), similar to the European lanner and the American prairie falcon.
  • noun (Naut.) A small vessel having two or three masts, and a running bowsprit, and carrying lugsails. See Illustration in Appendix.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small vessel having two or three masts, and a running bowsprit, and carrying lugsails.
  • noun A conman.
  • noun An Indian falcon (Falco jugger), similar to the European lanner and the American prairie falcon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small fishing boat rigged with one or more lugsails

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From lugsail.]

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Examples

  • The lugger was a stranger, white, painted with a red mark, “very flash.”

    Last Leaves from Dunk Island 2003

  • The lugger was a beautiful boat, according to the idea of beauty that then prevailed, having been constructed by Mr George

    Two Gallant Sons of Devon A Tale of the Days of Queen Bess Harry Collingwood 1886

  • "You think that fellow with the lugger was the captain?" asked Murray.

    Hunting the Skipper The Cruise of the "Seafowl" Sloop George Manville Fenn 1870

  • The lugger was a fast boat, the wind just suited her, and the brig fell farther and farther astern until, as the former entered the bay of Quimper and laid her course north, the brig hauled her wind and turned to rejoin the vessels off Brest.

    No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee Stanley L. Wood 1867

  • It was soon evident that the lugger was a fast craft.

    Won from the Waves William Henry Giles Kingston 1847

  • The lugger is a celebrated French privateer, that we have six cruisers in chase of at this moment, our own ship included.

    The Wing-and-Wing Le Feu-Follet James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • Italians reluctant converts to the opinion of the Englishman, that the lugger was the dreaded and obnoxious Feu-Follet.

    The Wing-and-Wing Le Feu-Follet James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • The three vessels were not more than half a cable's length asunder; that is, we were about that distance from the ship, and the lugger was a very little farther from us.

    Afloat and Ashore A Sea Tale James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • "Well, Tonti," answered Signor Viti, in a protecting manner, and with an affable smile, "as this is not an affair that is likely to go to the higher courts at Florence, your explanations may be taken as sufficient, and I have no wish to disturb them -- a lugger is a lugger."

    The Wing-and-Wing Le Feu-Follet James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • He tells us that the lugger is a craft much in use among the

    The Wing-and-Wing Le Feu-Follet James Fenimore Cooper 1820

Comments

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  • A small European sailing vessel used often by by smugglers and privateers around the English Channel in the 18th century.

    August 2, 2007

  • "...as he turned he caught sight of a lugger hoisting her sail in the harbour..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 24

    February 27, 2008