schooner

schooner¹ sailing ship

Etymology

The word for the sailing ship is of uncertain origin.^{[1][5][6][7][8]} It was first written skooner or scooner, and the spelling with initial “sch”, found from 1721, was probably influenced by Dutch words beginning so,^[8][2][1] or perhaps by school.^[1] Etymonline suggests a New England verb related to Scots scon (“to send over water, to skip stones”), and the OED, while noting that no such New England verb scoon or scun is on record, finds the derivation not improbable.^[2][1] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford connect it with dialect scun (“to skim along”),^[9][3] Dictionary.com with a variant of dialect scun, scud, comparing dialectal Swedish skunna and Old English scyndan, with the suffix -er,^[10] and Partridge, following the English Dialect Dictionary, derives scun from Old Norse skunda (“to speed”).^[11] Skeat related the verb to shun.^[12][2] Barnhart, on the other hand, finds no basis for the link with scun.^[8] The word passed from English into most European languages: Dutch schoener, German Schoner, French schooner, Danish skonnert and Swedish skonert.^[1][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small seagoing fore-and-aft rigged vessel with two masts: 1716, in the Boston town records, spelled skooner.^[1][8][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The OED takes the early records as strong evidence that the word arose about 1713 in Massachusetts, probably at Gloucester; old prints suggest that the rig itself already existed in 17th-century England, but it first came into wide use in New England.^[1][8] The schooner, at first two-masted, later often carried three or four masts and one or more topsails,^[1][3] and Merriam-Webster counts ships of up to seven masts.^[5] In 19th-century America the large covered wagon of the emigrants crossing the plains was called a prairie schooner (1858).^[1][3][6] Nautical slang called a joint of meat roasted among potatoes or batter a schooner on the rocks (1916).^[1][3]

Timeline

• 1716 – skooner, a small two-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel.^[1][8][2]
• 1721 – the spelling schooner.^[8]
• 1858 – US, a prairie schooner, an emigrants' covered wagon.^[1][3]
• 1916 – nautical slang, schooner on the rocks, a joint roasted with potatoes.^[1][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two or more masts, the foremast usually smaller than the mainmast: The old schooner beat up the coast against the wind.^{[5][13][6][1]}
2. A prairie schooner, a large covered wagon.^[6][3]

Word family

• prairie schooner

schooner² beer glass

Etymology

The word for the beer glass is of obscure origin;^[1][2][13] the OED and the Shorter Oxford take it as perhaps a fanciful use of the name of the sailing ship,^[1][3] but Etymonline notes that such ships are not known for their size.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tall glass for lager beer and ale, holding about twice as much as an ordinary tumbler: defined in a supplement to Webster's dictionary in 1879,^[1][2] and first quoted by the OED from a Boston newspaper of 1886.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The American glass gave its name in Britain to a customary measure by which beer was sold (1895),^[1] and in Australia and New Zealand to a large beer glass whose size varies from place to place, or the beer in it (1934).^[1][3] In Britain the word later named a tall, waisted sherry glass (1967).^[1][3][13]

Timeline

• 1879 – US, a tall glass for lager beer and ale.^[1][2]
• 1895 – British, a customary retail measure of beer.^[1]
• 1934 – Australia and New Zealand, a large beer glass of locally variable size.^[1]
• 1967 – a tall, waisted sherry glass.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large, tall glass for beer or ale.^{[5][13][6][1]}
2. (Australia and New Zealand) A beer glass of a size that varies by region; the beer it holds.^[1][3][13]
3. (British) A tall glass for sherry, or the measure it holds.^[13][1][3]
4. (British) A customary measure by which beer is sold.^[5][1]