different between mailboat vs paquebot

English

Etymology

mail +? boat

Noun

mailboat (plural mailboats)

1. a boat used to transport mail
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Part I, [1]

     Stephen stood up and went over to the parapet. Leaning on it he looked down on the water and on the mailboat clearing the harbourmouth of Kingstown.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter VIII, p. 120, [2]

     […] the news and propaganda in imperialistic papers imported once a month by the mail-boat from the South lacked power because it lacked continuity and was stale.

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French paquebot (“mailboat”). First used in Great Britain in 1894, the term was adopted for general use by the Universal Postal Union in 1897.

Noun

paquebot (plural paquebots)

1. a mailboat
2. (postal history) a postal marking or cancellation stamped on mail posted at sea or in a harbour for processing by the postal authorities at the next port of call. Mail so marked in one country will often carry the stamps of another country.

Adjective

paquebot (not comparable)

1. Relating to mail posted at sea.

   a paquebot letter

   a paquebot duplex

Usage notes

The word would typically be stamped in upper case, PAQUEBOT, on the postal item, but when described in text would be written with a capital P only, eg, Paquebot.

References

• Douglas and Mary Patrick, The Musson Stamp Dictionary, Toronto, Musson Book Company, 1972.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English packet-boat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pak.bo/

Noun

paquebot m (plural paquebots)

1. ship, liner

Descendants

• ? English: paquebot

Further reading

• “paquebot” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).