From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpontoonpon‧toon /pɒnˈtuːn $ pɑːn-/ noun 1 [countable]TEC one of several metal containers or boats that are fastened together to support a floating bridge2 [countable]TT one of two hollow metal containers fastened to the bottom of a plane so that it can come down onto water and float3 [uncountable] British EnglishDGC a card game, usually played for money SYN blackjack American English
Examples from the Corpus
pontoon• Only some sailors in blue jerseys who appeared as the Shirley chugged alongside the boarding pontoon.• Lastly to make the picture more realistic, some crew are placed on board, and on the floating pontoons.• Then he got me and two more drivers to go into his room for a hand of pontoon.• The empty network of pontoons stretched across the river like floating railway lines.• Again the pontoons refused to rise from the water.• There was not enough wind, and as Elmer had said, the pontoons acted like a dime stuck to the table.• The solution he came up with was to use pontoons instead of wheels.Origin pontoon (1600-1700) French ponton “floating bridge”, from Latin ponto, from pons “bridge” 