convoy

UK/ˈkɒn.vɔɪ/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,408 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: convoys

A convoy is a group of vehicles or ships travelling under protection. An aid convoy, sail in convoy, a military convoy.

The Atlantic convoys of the Second World War proved the principle: ships sailing together were far safer than the same ships sailing alone, because an escort protects the whole group at once and a wide ocean is mostly empty. Note the same root as convey.

Definitions of convoy

1nounconvoyA group of vehicles or ships travelling under protection.B2+
“A convoy of army trucks drove slowly along the mountain road.”

convoy is a protected group.

Where it comes from

Old French convoier means to escort, from Latin con-, together, plus via, a way. Convey is the same word.

Latin
con- — together
Vulgar Latin
*convio
Old French
convoier
English, today
convoy

Built from

via · Latin — way

From Middle English -, from Old French convoier, another form of conveier, from Vulgar Latin convio (compare Medieval Latin convio (“to accompany on the way”)), from Latin con- (“together”) + via (“way”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Military & Defence

Practise this word

convoy in the wild

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection.
Convoy
Convoy PQ 17 was an Allied Arctic convoy during the Second World War.
Convoy PQ 17
The convoy was located by German forces on 1 July, shadowed and attacked.
Convoy PQ 17
The convoy sailed from Britain on 3 August 1942 and passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean on the night of 9/10 August 1942.
Operation Pedestal
The Wolfpack (Rudeltaktik) was a convoy attack tactic employed in the Second World War.
Wolfpack (naval tactic)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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