Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA slick and light ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock.
nounAny vessel used for private, noncommercial purposes.
Sentence Examples
You are welcome to the use of my yacht.
Our yacht club has ten members.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wealthy businessman sailed his luxurious ____ across the ocean.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The wealthy businessman enjoys spending his summer holidays sailing on his large and very luxurious ____ today.
Word Origin & History
Circa 1557; variant of yaught, earlier yeaghe (“light, fast-sailing ship”), from Dutch jacht (“yacht; hunt”), in older spelling jaght(e), short for jaghtschip (“light sailing vessel, fast pirate ship”, literally “pursuit ship”), compound of jacht and schip (“ship”).
In the 16th century the Dutch built light, fast ships to chase the ships of pirates and smugglers from the coast. The ship was introduced to England in 1660 when the Dutch East India Company presented one to King Charles II, who used it as a pleasure boat, after which it was copied by British shipbuilders as a pleasure craft for wealthy gentlemen.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"“I don’t mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…], the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts,[…], the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!""
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"The megayacht concept is equipped with its own port with enough space for a second yacht measuring up to 30 meters, as well as three swimming pools. […] The market is projected to reach a value of $10.2 billion by 2025 as an increasing amount of yachts measuring longer than 24 meters are ordered, and designers are going all out to ensure their concepts are bigger and better than the competition."
— 2020 November 25, Tamara Hardingham-Gill, “The $550 million megayacht concept that looks like a shark”, in CNN: