General
boat race
What does boat race mean?
Used of a facial look that gives the game away.
"It was written all over his boat that he'd done it."
Origin
Late-Victorian or early-twentieth-century East End rhyming slang on 'face', borrowing the name of the famous Oxford-and-Cambridge Boat Race rowed on the Thames; event-and-place rhymes are characteristic of Cockney, within the tradition Hotten first set down in 1859.
Frequently asked questions
What does boat race mean in Cockney?
It means the face. 'Race' rhymes with 'face', and it's shortened to 'boat'.
Why 'boat race'?
It borrows the famous Thames Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge — a well-known event that gave an easy rhyme for 'face'.
Is boat for face still used?
Yes, 'boat' for face is one of the more common surviving pieces of rhyming slang.
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