yacht (n.)
A yacht is a boat for pleasure. The word is the Dutch jacht, shortened from jachtschip, hunting ship, from jagen, to hunt or chase.12
It was built for the chase. Dutch warships were too heavy to catch the pirates and smugglers working their coast, so lighter and faster craft were made to run them down.12
One was presented to Charles II in 1660, and he used it to go out on the water for the pleasure of it. English gentlemen wanted the same, and the word stopped meaning the chase.12
They spent August on a yacht.