Cruiser

How to spell cruiser

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cruiser

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cruiser mean?

1. nounA fast, medium-sized warship designed for patrolling and independent operations.
2. nounA motorboat or yacht with a cabin, built for leisurely travel along coasts or rivers.
3. nounA police patrol car used to respond to calls and monitor an area.

Cruiser in a sentence

• The navy deployed a guided-missile cruiser to the strait.

• They spent the summer aboard a small cabin cruiser on the canals.

• A police cruiser pulled up outside the bank within minutes.

• The heavy cruiser escorted the convoy across the Atlantic.

• He moored the cruiser at the marina for the winter.

• The officer radioed for backup from his cruiser.

Where does cruiser come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

Cruiser comes from the verb cruise, which English borrowed in the seventeenth century from the Dutch kruisen, meaning 'to cross' or 'to sail back and forth'. That Dutch verb was built on kruis, meaning 'cross', and it described a ship moving to and fro across a stretch of sea rather than heading straight for a single port. By around 1670 English speakers had formed cruiser, modelled on the Dutch kruiser, to name an armed ship that patrolled the seas looking for enemy or merchant vessels rather than sailing in formation. Over time the sense broadened well beyond warships, giving us the pleasure cruiser, the touring motorcycle, and in American usage the police patrol car. The spelling keeps the smooth -uise- of cruise plus the agent ending -er, so the only real trap is remembering the silent flow of u-i and the single s before -er.

How the word is built

• cruise (to sail to and fro)
• -er (agent suffix: one who or that which cruises)