boat people—refugees who attempt to flee their country by putting out to sea in a small boat:
- Most people were never aware that a great number of the boat people died on the ocean.
river people—(Austral.) the Barkindji (an Aboriginal nation) who lived along the Darling River in western New South Wales:
- The riverboat trade began around 1853, at which time the lifestyles of the river people were disturbed irreversibly.