flat n Cp DC ~ 2 (1954). A small flat-bottomed boat, ten feet long and with a square stern, rowed with a pair of oars and used chiefly by fishermen as a tender in a cove or harbour, occas for fishing in sheltered coastal waters.
   [1774] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 17 I took two hands in a punt, with a flat in tow. 1842 JUKES ii, 133 ... two small 'flats,' these latter being little flat-bottomed boats with square ends, about the shape of a common knife-tray. 1912 CABOT 73 Presently came three or four women with a good catch of sea trout in a 'flat,' a little dory-like skiff. T 210/11-65 When I was fifteen, or fourteen, I'm not sure which—it would depend on when I built the flat, flat boat—I built another one—a rodney boat. My father just marked out an' showed me how to do it. M 68-17 A flat was used mostly within the cove itself, for going to the collar, etc. 1977 Inuit Land Use 132 The common method of fishing among the Inuit and Settler families was jigging with a hand-line from a flat or a punt.

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