A long carvel-built boat, sharp at both ends, and steered with a rudder or an oar, used in whale-fishing. b. A boat of this kind carried as a life-boat by large passenger-steamers and warships.
1756. R. Rogers, Jrnls. (1769), 13. Our rendezvous was appointed at Albany, from thence to proceed in four whale-boats to lake George.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., IV. iv. (1849), 415. A picked crew of daring fellows set off for her in a whale-boat.
1871. Good Words, 713. Having come to her moorings, she is immediately surrounded by a multitude of whale-boats.