The Collaborative International Dictionary
Corvet \Cor"vet\ (k?r"v?t), Corvette \Cor*vette"\ (k?r-v?r"), n. [F. corvette, fr. Pg. corveta or Sp. corbeta, fr. L. corbita a slow-sailing ship of burden, fr, corbis basket. Cf. Corbeil.] (Naut.) A war vessel, ranking next below a frigate, and having usually only one tier of guns; -- called in the United States navy a sloop of war. [1913 Webster] ||
WordNet
n. a sailing or steam warship having cannons on only one deck
Usage examples of "sloop of war".
Some time after this he and his consort fell foul of an English sloop of war, the Greyhound, whereby they were so roughly handled that Low was glad enough to slip away, leaving his consort and her crew behind him, as a sop to the powers of law and order.
But for some reason it was nearly four weeks before a sloop of war was sent around from New York.
They don't show any ironclads, but the sloop of war design they settled on should carry the armor no sweat.
In the Harwich boat-shed, nearly fifty years before, he had contracted--in defiance of prophesied failure--to build the Hastings sloop of war for His Majesty King George the Third's Lords of the Admiralty.