steerage

[steer-ij]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR steerage ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a part or division of a ship, formerly the part containing the steering apparatus.

(in a passenger ship) the part or accommodations allotted to the passengers who travel at the cheapest rate.

Origin of steerage

First recorded in 1400–50, steerage is from the late Middle English word sterage. See steer¹, -age

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for steerage

exploration, shipping, boating, voyage, flying, aeronautics, seafaring, seamanship, sailing, yachting, steerage, pilotage, steering, piloting, navigating, voyaging

Examples from the Web for steerage

Contemporary Examples of steerage

The airlines have indoctrinated us to accept a “steerage complex.”
Flying Coach Is the New Hell: How Airlines Engineer You Out of Room
Clive Irving
November 25, 2014

Historical Examples of steerage

I was at last convinced that they had no friends among the steerage passengers.
In a Steamer Chair and Other Stories
Robert Barr
Probably some steerage passengers have come on the cabin deck.
In a Steamer Chair and Other Stories
Robert Barr
As Sim said, when he faced his problem, "I couldn't seem to get steerage way on her."
Kent Knowles: Quahaug
Joseph C. Lincoln
If we can h'ist the jib we can get some steerage way on her, maybe.
The Woman-Haters
Joseph C. Lincoln
There were only two other steerage passengers and they were women.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for steerage

steerage

noun

the cheapest accommodation on a passenger ship, originally the compartments containing the steering apparatus

an instance or the practice of steering and the effect of this on a vessel or vehicle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for steerage

mid-15c., "action of steering," from steer (v.) + -age. Meaning "part of a ship in front of the chief cabin" is from 1610s; originally where the steering apparatus of the ship was, it retained the name after the introduction of the deck wheel in early 18c.; hence meaning "section of a ship with the cheapest accommodations," first recorded 1804.