lighter
1 a small portable device for providing a naked flame or red-hot filament to light cigarettes, etc.
lighter
2 a flat-bottomed barge used for transporting cargo, esp in loading or unloading a ship
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
lighter
[′līd·ər] (naval architecture)
A barge used to load and unload ships not lying at piers, or to move cargo around a harbor.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Lighter
(Russian, likhter; from Dutch lichter), an unpowered maritime freight carrier used with tugboats to transport cargo and also used in nonberth cargo operations to load and unload deep-draft ships that cannot enter port and are waiting at a roadstead. Lighters sometimes have their own loading equipment.
Lighter
a non-self-propelled cargo ship with a shallow draft and simple lines that carries loads on its deck; it is used chiefly for transshipping operations in roadsteads. Lighters may also serve as supports for floating bridges.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.