belowdecks

[bih-loh-deks]

adverb

Nautical.

1. within the hull of a vessel.

   Fire raged belowdecks.

Word History and Origins

Origin of belowdecks¹

below + deck + -s ¹

Example Sentences

The young man asked after the night’s schedule and when the meeting going on belowdecks—captains of all the flotilla ships planning the sailing schedule—might be over.

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Most worryingly, he didn’t hear the sound that had filled belowdecks for the past three months at sea: the hum of the ship’s generator.

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Under the cover of night, the young woman boarded the ship and was given a place belowdecks by a friendly captain named John Bowles.

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But the nightmare was just beginning for him and the other kidnapped Africans forced belowdecks.

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There was even a TV ad featuring a solo trans-Atlantic sailor named Ken Clift who, in a raging storm, goes belowdecks to sip coffee from a globe mug.

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