01 n. A wooden flat-bottomed boat, a metallic cylinder, or a frame covered with canvas, India rubber, etc., forming a portable float, used in bui…
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1.
A wooden flat-bottomed boat, a metallic cylinder, or a frame covered with canvas, India rubber, etc., forming a portable float, used in building bridges quickly for the passage of troops.(Mil.)
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2.
A low, flat vessel, resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, and other machinery, used in careening ships, raising weights, drawing piles, etc., chiefly in the Mediterranean; a lighter.(Naut.)
Phrases & compounds
Pontoon bridge —
a bridge formed with pontoons.
Pontoon train —
the carriages of the pontoons, and the materials they carry for making a pontoon bridge.