English dictionary
frigate
/'fr/I/g/I/t/
Definitions, examples, synonyms and antonyms from WordNet 3.0.
noun
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a medium size square-rigged warship of the 18th and 19th centuries
Source: WordNet 3.0
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a United States warship larger than a destroyer and smaller than a cruiser
Source: WordNet 3.0
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Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by sails and by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the name to larger vessels, and by 1750 it had been appropriated for a class of war vessels intermediate between corvettes and ships of the line. Frigates, from about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and, often, a spar deck with a lighter battery. They carried sometimes as many as fifty guns. After the application of steam to navigation <i>steam frigates</i> of largely increased size and power were built, and formed the main part of the navies of the world till about 1870, when the introduction of ironclads superseded them.
Source: webster1913