tugboat
UK /ˈtʌɡbəʊt/ · US /ˈtʌɡboʊt/ noun
Forms tugboats tug-boat tug boat
- noun (nautical) A small, powerful boat used to push or pull barges or to help maneuver larger vessels.
- noun (euphemistic, rare, Internet slang) A Social Security Disability Insurance payment; monthly tugboat
Synonyms
Etymology
Sense 2 from monthly tugboat, a reference to the saying "our ship has come in," here referring to a small, "reliable" "tugboat" instead of a large windfall.
Webster’s 1913
- noun See Tug, n., 3.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tugboat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details