noun
- a flat-bottomed barge or lighter used for transporting cargo, especially on rivers and canals
Usage: nautical; chiefly British
Examples
- The gabbard was loaded with grain and towed down the river.
- Merchants used gabbards to transport goods along the canal network.
- The old gabbard sat abandoned at the dock, its wooden hull weathered by years of service.
- A team of horses pulled the heavy gabbard through the waterway.
- The gabbard's flat bottom made it ideal for shallow inland waters.