What makes a boat a yacht?

Search: yacht definition

Why: In The Beast (1996) (TV), the couple that killed at the beginning (spoiler alert) call their little saily boat a yacht when they call in for distress. In The Amber Spyglass:

Suddenly they saw him. Heads turned with a snap, and at once all those wings were raised high, exactly like the sails of a yacht, and they all leaned in with the breeze, making for the shore.

For some reason, I always thought of yachts of enormous boats - with motors, I guess - like cruise ships.

Answer: From the Dutch words jaghd and jacht, meaning "hunt," a yacht originally was a light, fast sailing vessel used to convey important persons. Now it is generally understood as a "pleasure boat" (not work boat) of any size or style, either sailing yacht or powerboat.

Yacht lengths generally range from 20 feet (6 m) up to hundreds of feet. Luxury crafts smaller than 40 feet are more commonly called "cabin cruisers" or simply "cruisers." A mega yacht generally refers to any yacht (sail or power) above 100 ft (34 m) and a super yacht generally refers to any yacht over 200 ft (70 m). This size is small in relation to typical cruise liners and oil tankers.

Source: Mimi.hu, Wikipedia

The More You Know: When was the last time you watched this?

I got a nautical themed pashmina afghan.