deadlight

[ded-lahyt]

noun

Nautical.

1. a strong shutter able to be screwed against the interior of a porthole in heavy weather.

2. a thick pane of glass set in the hull or deck to admit light. lights.

deadlight

/ ˈdɛdˌlaɪt /

noun

1. nautical

   1. a bull's-eye let into the deck or hull of a vessel to admit light to a cabin

   2. a shutter of wood or metal for sealing off a porthole or cabin window

2. a skylight designed not to be opened

Word History and Origins

Origin of deadlight¹

First recorded in 1720–30; dead + light ¹

Example Sentences

How unsettling his performance is: when he’s being jolly in luring Georgie to the sewer, there’s something of the serial killer to him, rather than the immortal creature from the deadlights.

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“That’s what I minded most, about the storm,” she added, “four days shut away down there with the deadlights up.”

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My deadlights was more misty than I like to have 'em.

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To his second officer he had expressed a desire for a typhoon that would roll the deadlights out of his boat, and blow the hyphenated “garden truck” into the Sulu Sea.

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The deadlight of the porthole had been unshipped and the cabin was flooded with dazzling sunlight.

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