1.PMNa small ship that carries several large guns 炮艇,炮舰
2.gunboat diplomacyPPPTHREATENthe practice of threatening to use force against another country to make them agree to your demands 炮舰外交〔指用武力威胁使另一国家屈从的做法〕
Examples from the Corpus
gunboat diplomacy• It also sounds like the kind of moralpurpose with which Palmerston infused his gunboat diplomacy.
Examples from the Corpus
gunboat• Perhaps it's something to do with being the only civildepartment still with the power to send in a gunboat.• So perhaps Britain was about to send a gunboat to shell the Perrier works after all?• The use of gunboats increased towards the end of the war.• As they neared James River and caughtsight of our gunboats, a cheer went up from each regiment.• Business people no longer believed that gunboats and garrisons were vital for the protection and promotion of their activities.• Our stragglers, their couragerevived by sight of the gunboats, came up the hill, seeking their regiments.• Marvelsnewsman Albert Richardson: On the gunboats not a man was killed, and only eight were wounded.