Entries linking to showboat
c. 1300, "act of exhibiting to view," from show (v.). Sense of "appearance put on with intention to deceive" is recorded from 1520s. Meaning "display, spectacle" is first recorded 1560s; that of "ostentatious display" is from 1713 (showy is from 1712). Sense of "entertainment program on radio or TV" is first recorded 1932. Meaning "third place in a horse race" is from 1925, American English (see the verb).
Show of hands is attested from 1789; Phrase for show "for appearance's sake" is from c. 1700. Show business is attested from 1850; shortened form show biz used in Billboard magazine from 1942. Actor's creed the show must go on is attested from 1890. Show-stopper is from 1926; show trial is attested by 1937.
"small open vessel (smaller than a ship) used to cross waters, propelled by oars, a sail, or (later) an engine," Old English bat, from Proto-Germanic *bait- (source also of Old Norse batr, Dutch boot, German Boot), possibly from PIE root *bheid- "to split," if the notion is of making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk or from split planking. Or it may be an extension of the name for some part of a ship.
French bateau "boat" is from Old English or Norse. Spanish batel, Italian battello, Medieval Latin batellus likewise probably are from Germanic. Of serving vessels resembling a boat, by 1680s. The image of being in the same boat "subject to similar challenges and difficulties" is by 1580s; to rock the boat "disturb stability" is from 1914.
