three-decker
Americannoun
-
any ship having three decks, tiers, etc.
-
(formerly) one of a class of sailing warships that carried guns on three decks.
-
a sandwich made of three slices of bread interlaid with two layers of filling; club sandwich.
-
something having three layers, levels, or tiers.
noun
-
-
anything having three levels or layers
-
( as modifier )
a three-decker sandwich
-
-
a warship with guns on three decks
Etymology
Origin of three-decker
First recorded in 1785–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
GAYNOR: We had a wonderful party on a three-decker cruise ship.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 12, 2024
“A Hero” is as anxious and swift as a thriller, with the density and observational acuity of a 19th-century three-decker.
From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2022
Helena Wright’s first apartment was in Andover, Mass., on the second floor of what New Englanders call a three-decker.
From Washington Post • Aug. 29, 2018
Yet the family was somehow able to buy one of Worcester’s three-decker buildings, which must have felt like a miraculous accomplishment for folks who arrived with nothing a few years earlier.
From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2016
He drops us off at the Grey Island Inn, a long rectangular three-decker with a view of the ship docks and the Jersey shoreline.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.