showboat

[shoh-boht] /ˈʃoʊˌboʊt/
noun, Also, showboater (for defs 2, 3).
1.
a boat, especially a paddle-wheel steamer, used as a traveling theater.
2.
Informal. show-off (def 1).
3.
a person, especially an athlete, who performs in an ostentatiously sensational manner calculated to draw attention; show-off.
verb (used without object)
4.
to perform or behave in an outrageous or spectacular manner.
Origin
1865-70, Americanism; show + boat
Examples from the web for showboat
  • He defies gravity with his jumping-jack flashes, but does not showboat.
  • River steamboats and showboat anchored at the levee.
  • showboat patrons were not partial to sophisticated entertainment.
British Dictionary definitions for showboat

showboat

/ˈʃəʊˌbəʊt/
noun
1.
a paddle-wheel river steamer with a theatre and a repertory company
verb
2.
(intransitive) to perform or behave in a showy and flamboyant way
Word Origin and History for showboat
n.

also show-boat, 1838, "river boat on which theatrical performances are given," from show (n.) + boat (n.). The verb meaning "to show off" is attested from 1951.

Slang definitions & phrases for showboat

showboat

noun

(also showboater): even your most hardassed right wingers had some showboat in them/ Jesse is a showboater, privately (1953+)

verb
  1. To behave in a showy, flamboyant way; grandstand, hot dog: And, please, no showboating, fist-pounding, breast-beating, or blame-casting (1951+)
  2. pull rank (1960s+)

Encyclopedia Article for showboat

floating theatre that tied up at towns along the waterways of the southern and midwestern United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring culture and entertainment to the inhabitants of river frontiers. The earliest of these entertainment boats were family-owned ventures into regions where theatres had not gone.

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