half deck

American  

noun

1. (in a sailing ship) the portion of the deck below the upper or spar deck and aft of the mainmast.

---

Other Word Forms

• half-decker
  noun

Etymology

Origin of half deck

First recorded in 1620–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

half deck

It's a sight out of a Twain lover's imagined memory: a tiny, homemade Mississippi River raft, buoyant on blue oil-drums, flapping blue canvas greetings from its scanty half deck.

From Time Magazine Archive

Among these were several accomplished tailors, who nearly the whole cruise sat cross-legged on the half deck, making coats, pantaloons, and vests for the quarter-deck officers.

From White Jacket or, the World on a Man-of-War by Melville, Herman

The bark had a half deck extending to the main-mast.

From The Story of a Strange Career Being the Autobiography of a Convict; an Authentic Document by Anonymous

The female convicts, who were battened down under the hatches, on the vessel’s running aground, broke away the half deck hatch, and frantic, rushed on deck.

From Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities. by Anonymous

Here they spent seven weeks careening; and, capturing a galley, La Bouce, the second captain, cut her half deck, and mounted her with 24 guns.

From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume III (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Thornbury, Walter