Crayer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small sailing ship of the kind once used to carry cargo along coasts and across shallow seas
2. An old type of small merchant sailing boat, used mainly for coastal trade and transport of goods
3. A modest sailing vessel historically employed by traders to move goods around coastal waters

Etymology: "Crayer" was a small sailing vessel, a type of coastal or river craft that was used in the North Sea and Channel waters. The word most likely reached English from Dutch or Middle Dutch, where the related terms for a small boat or trading vessel were in circulation. Its closest relatives are the Danish "krejert" and "kraier", which point to a shared Low Countries and Scandinavian maritime vocabulary rather than a single traceable inventor or event. The word's history is tied to the ships themselves. Sailors and shipbuilders in the Netherlands and along the North Sea coast used such terms for compact, sturdy vessels suited to shallow water and short voyages, and English adopted the name as those boats became familiar to English-speaking seafarers.

Synonyms: hoy, smack, ketch