boat race

boat race (plural boat races)

1. A race between rowing crews.

   Coordinate term: regatta

   The Oxford and Cambridge boat race is held on the Thames every year.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 60:

     The District went to Putney to take advantage of Boat Race traffic, and it would capitalise on the shows and exhibitions held at Earl's Court and Olympia.

2. (Cockney rhyming slang) The face.
3. (gambling, slang) A fixed horse race, with a specific horse arranged to win in advance.
   • 1944, Damon Runyon, “A Story Goes With It”, in Stories à la Carte:

     "Now," Herbie says, dropping his voice away down low, in case old Cap Duhaine may be around somewhere listening, "it is the third race, and the horse is a horse by the name of Never Despair. It is a boat race," Herbie says. "They are going to shoo in Never Despair. Everything else in the race is a cooler," he says.

• “boat race”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.