Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Pontoon |
PontoonNoun1. A floating structure (as a flat-bottomed boat) that serves as a dock or to support a bridge. 2. A float supporting a seaplane. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "pontoon" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1869. (references) |
Etymology: Pontoon \Pon*toon"\, noun. [French expression ponton (compare to Italian expression pontone), from the Latin expression ponto, -onis, from pons, pontis, bridge, perhaps originally, way, path: compare to Greek path, Sanskrit path, pathi, panthan. Compare to Punt boat.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Transportation | A broad, flat-bottomed floating structure without sheer, rectangular in shape, resembling a barge. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A. A float supporting part of a structure, such as a bridge b. A wood platform used to support machinery on soft groun. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Method | Bridge, footbridge, viaduct, pontoon, steppingstone, plank, gangway; drawbridge; pass, ford, ferry, tunnel; pipe. |
Ship | Boat, pinnace, launch; life boat, long boat, jolly boat, bum boat, fly boat, ferry oat, canal boat; swamp boat, ark, bully, bateau battery, broadhorn, dory, droger, drogher; dugout, durham boat, flatboat, galiot; shallop, gig, funny, skiff, dingy, scow, cockleshell, wherry, coble, punt, cog, kedge, lerret; eight oar, four oar, pair oar; randan; outrigger; float, raft, pontoon; prame; iceboat, ice canoe, ice yacht. |
Vehicle | Truck, tram; cariole, carriole; limber, tumbrel, pontoon; barrow; wheel barrow, hand barrow; perambulator; Bath chair, wheel chair, sedan chair; chaise; palankeen, palanquin; litter, brancard, crate, hurdle, stretcher, ambulance; black Maria; conestoga wagon, conestoga wain; jinrikisha, ricksha, brett, dearborn, dump cart, hack, hackery, jigger, kittereen, mailstate, manomotor, rig, rockaway, prairie schooner, shay, sloven, team, tonga, wheel; hobbyhorse, go-cart; cycle; bicycle, bike, two-wheeler; tricycle, velocipede, quadricycle. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Pontoon |
| English words defined with "pontoon": outrigger ♦ Ponton, Pontoon train, Pontooning. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "pontoon": Xerxes. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "pontoon": Pontiff. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Pontoon" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Manx (pontoon ). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Pontoon Bridge Building (1902) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Tampa Baywatch and McDill Airforce Base pontoon boats assist in the clean-up and rescue of entangled birds. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | Figure 37. Current meter invented by Otto Pettersson 1910 with photographic recorder. Left: view of the assembled unit. Right: details of the measuring device and recorder. This was the first current measuring device to be able to record both direction and strength of current for long periods. It was first used from a pontoon at Goteborg in 1911. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | LCVPs from USS Noble (APA-218) wait their turn to go up to the Inchon pontoon docks to unload troops and supplies, on the first day of the landings, 15 September 1950. Credit: NAVY. |  | Panoramic photograph of the ships' Officers & Crew, taken looking aft from her forecastle on 10 February 1903. Maine's Commanding Officer, Captain Eugene H.C. Leutze, is standing just to the left of the 12"/40 gun in the center of the photo. Standing beside Capt. Leutze, to the left, is Lieutenant Commander Thomas S. Rodgers. Note items in the foreground, including the capstain, anchor chain, and a pontoon raft. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Aerial view of trucks and equipment of U.S. First Army cross a pontoon bridge over the Rhine to the east bank, Eastern Theater of Operations] / U.S. Army Signal Corps. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A Pontoon bridge across the mud flats in Flanders. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Rappahannock Station, Va. Canvas pontoon boat, 50th New York Engineers. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Hanovertown Ferry, Va. Pontoon bridges across the Pamunkey, with wagons. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Gen. Burnside's Corp marching over the pontoon bridge into Virginia, at the town of Berlin on Thursday, Oct. 27, 1862. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Building pontoon bridges at Fredericksburg Dec. 11th. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Sail Boat" by Luke Wertz Commentary: "I was at the beach yesterday -- my friend's dad had his boat up on the beach. The hull is a little dirty -- could be cleaned up digitally if need be. I had to do a few 'touch ups' on the photo to get rid of a pontoon boat (on the beach) and a boat out in" |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Pontoon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Pontoon" is used about 58 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 58 | 44,427 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "pontoon": Mc Gregor type pontoon ♦ Pontoon Beach ♦ pontoon bridge ♦ pontoon plane ♦ pontoon train. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "pontoon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | ponton, trap (booby, cockeyed, Dick, ditch, Dong, dope, duffer, dumbbell, ferry, float, moron, prick, prune, raft, sap, sap-head, snare), mbështetëse të hidroplanit, lundër fundrrafshët. (various references) | |
Arabic | واحد وعشرين, عوامة (buoy, fleet, float, raft, water wings), الجسر العائم (floating bridge). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | вид игра на карти (faro, nap, old maid, seven-up, slapjack, snap, spoil-five), лодка за понтонен мост, понтонен, понтон (ponton). (various references) | |
Chinese | 浮船. (various references) | |
Czech | ponton, převoznický pramice, mostní èlun, jednadvacet. (various references) | |
Danish | ponton (barge, dummy, flat, float, float body, raft), stålpram (steel barge, steel scow), afbindingsponton. (various references) | |
Dutch | ponton (barge, dummy, flat, float, float body, raft), platte bak (barge, dummy, flat), zolderschuit (barge), werkponton, stalen heibak (steel barge, steel scow), drijver (float, float body, float lever, floater, raft), drijflichaam (float, float body, raft). (various references) | |
Finnish | ponttoni (American caisson, box caisson, stranded caisson), kelluke (drop, float). (various references) | |
French | ponton, flotteur. (various references) | |
German | Ponton (barge, dummy, flat). (various references) | |
Greek | σχεδία (float, raft), πλωτό με χαλύβδινο πάτο (steel barge, steel scow), πλωτήρας (buoy, float, float body, floater, floating support, raft), ποντόνι (caisson), θυρόπλοιο (barge, dummy, flat). (various references) | |
Hebrew | פונטון, גשר צף, סירת גשרים. (various references) | |
Hungarian | ponton (ponton), állóhajó (ponton). (various references) | |
Italian | pontone (barge, dummy, flat). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 舟橋 , 橋脚舟 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きょうきゃくしゅう, ふなはし. (various references) | |
Korean | 교주 (hierarchical, sheik, sheikh). (various references) | |
Manx | pontoon, 'nane as feed. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ontoonpay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pontão (jetty). (various references) | |
Romanian | ponton (bridge, pontoon bridge, raft), pod de vase (pontoon bridge). (various references) | |
Russian | понтон. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | pontonski, ponton (hulk). (various references) | |
Spanish | pontón (ponton), flotador (float, floater, swimmer). (various references) | |
Swedish | ponton (float, ponton). (various references) | |
Turkish | yirmibir oyunu (blackjack), tombaz (camel), duba (ark, barge, caisson, camel, float), şamandıra (buoy, float, makefast, moorings). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | понтон (bateau, hulk, ponton), поплавець (bobber, dobber, float, swimmer). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "pontoon": pontoons. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "pontoon": spontoon. (additional references) | |
Words containing "pontoon": spontoons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Pontoon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: onton, Pantano, Penteon, pention, Poltown, Pontano, Ponten, ponto, pontone, pontoo, Popton, Poton, Powton, Poyton, Punton. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "pontoon" (pronounced pÄntuw"n) |
| 3 | -t uw" n | festoon, attune, cartoon, inopportune, opportune, platoon, Toon, tune. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "n-n-o-o-o-p-t" | |
-1 letter: ponton. | |
-3 letters: noon, onto, poon, toon. | |
-4 letters: noo, not, oot, opt, pot, ton, too, top. | |
-5 letters: no, on, op, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "n-n-o-o-o-p-t" | |
+1 letter: pontoons, spontoon. | |
+2 letters: spontoons. | |
+4 letters: monophthong, protonation, zooplankton. | |
+5 letters: antimonopoly, gonadotropin, monophthongs, noncorporate, prolongation, protonations, zooplanktons. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
